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MODERN  INDUSTRIAL   PROGRESS 


a^^AJf. 


MODERN 


Industrial  P 


NDUSTRIAL    TROGRESS 


BY 

CHARLES   H.   COCHRANE 

AUTHOR    OF    "THE    WONDERS    OF    MODERN    MECHANISM,"     "ARTISTIC    HOMES,   AND 
HOW    TO    BUILD    THEM,"   ETC. 


WITH  NUMEROUS    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PHILADELPHIA   &  LONDON 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY 

1904 


/  7 


an 


Copyright,  1904 
By  j.  B.  LippiNCOTT  Company 


Published  Decembe7',  igo4 


Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  J.  6.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia,  U.  S.  A. 


BOSTC?!  GOl"^r"  yppRY  / 

CHESIWUI  KILL,  MA    02167  V 


PREFACE 


We  live  in  a  world  of  wonders,  and  each  one's  life  is  of 
necessity  so  hemmed  in  by  circumstances  that  none  can  see  much 
beyond  the  horizon  of  his  own  habitat.  We  recognize  the  progress 
of  an  industry  that  comes  within  our  own  experience,  but  we  know 
little  of  those  wnth  which  we  are  not  in  personal  contact.  The 
pressman  who  clamps  the  plates  upon  a  modern  lightning  news- 
paper press  does  not  see  anything  very  startling  or  interesting  in 
the  work;  the  man  who  pulls  levers  in  the  pulpit  of  a  great  steel- 
works is  not  apt  to  recognize  that  there  has  been  marvellous  prog- 
ress in  that  line  of  manufacturing;  the  attendant  on  a  bottle- 
blowing  machine  has  learned  to  take  his  work  as  a  matter  of  course — 
and  so  we  find  it  through  the  entire  list  of  trades  and  occupations. 
Yet  each  of  these  men  is  at  times  impressed  with  the  remarkable 
advances  made  in  some  industry  other  than  his  own,  because  such 
knowledge  comes  to  one,  as  it  were,  suddenly,  and  not  by  the  almost 
imperceptible  movement  that  marks  progress  in  the  work  that  is 
familiar. 

The  means  that  have  brought  about  industrial  development 
are  worth  studying.  In  the  eighteenth  century  England  was  the 
one  great  centre  of  mechanical  progress.  She  manufactured  not 
only  for  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  but  for  practically  all  other 
important  civilized  portions  of  the  globe.  Early  emigrants  to 
America  did  not  bring  with  them  the  tools  of  their  trades,  excepting 
those  of  the  simplest  character.  The  laws  of  England  expressly 
forbade  the  exportation  of  tools  and  machines  for  manufacturing, 
or  the  taking  of  skilled  workmen  to  the  colonies.  Her  statesmen 
desired  to  retain  for  Great  Britain  the  position  of  manufacturer 
and  supply-house  for  the  world.  Wise  and  laudable  as  was  this 
purpose,  from  a  strictly  British  point  of  view,  the  means  employed 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  to  guard  England's 
exclusive  position  in  mechanics  and  manufacturing  were  a  prime 
cause  of  American  supremacy  in  several  industries  in  the  nineteenth 
and  twentieth  centuries. 

For  many  years  the  restrictive  laws  tended  to  the  advantage 


VI 


PREFACE 


of  Britain,  but  little  by  little  the  secrets  of  machine  tools  and 
methods  of  manufacture  extended  more  and  more  to  the  United 
States,  Germany,  France,  and  other  countries.  The  immigrant 
weaver  who  sought  to  follow  his  trade  in  the  New  World  a  hun- 
dred or  more  years  ago,  when  without  a  loom  built  one ;  the  printer 
who  wished  to  issue  a  newspaper  usually  had  to  construct  his  own 
press;  the  tanner  had  to  make  his  own  vats,  and  the  currier  to 
fashion  his  own  beaming  knife  and  table;  and  so  on  through  the 
various  trades  and  arts. 

What  was  the  natural  result?  Necessity  quickened  ingenuity, 
and  those  who  thus  built  from  the  raw  material  introduced  improve- 
ments into  the  machines  that  they  made  for  their  own  use,  and, 
while  their  first  work  was  usually  crude,  it  often  contained  the 
germs  of  better  things  than  had  ever  been  contrived  at  the  original 
centre  of  machine  development.  It  was  this  lack  of  imported  ma- 
chines that  caused  American  machine  builders  to  branch  out  in  new 
lines,  resulting  in  the  development  of  a  race  of  mechanicians  that 
have  revolutionized  construction  in  numerous  industries,  and  are 
largely  responsible  for  bringing  about  the  modern  rapid  advances 
in  all  kinds  of  machinery  and  manufacturing  processes. 

This  is  why  American  steel-mills  are  the  wonder  of  the  world; 
this  is  why  we  send  more  ore  through  the  locks  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie 
Canal,  on  Lake  Superior,  than  all  Europe  sends  of  all  sorts  of 
freight  through  the  Suez  Canal ;  this  is  why  we  mine  coal  in  Penn- 
sylvania at  twice  the  speed  it  is  taken  out  at  New  Castle;  this 
is  why  American  printing  machines  are  used  to  produce  the  great 
newspapers  of  Europe;  this  is  why  American  factory-made  shoes 
are  worn  in  China,  India,  and  South  Africa;  this  is  why  we  make 
tin  and  terne  plate  better  and  cheaper  than  in  Wales ;  this  is  why 
Swiss  watches  no  longer  sell  in-  America ;  and  why  the  cargoes  of 
cut  nails  that  used  to  sail  westward  are  replaced  by  cargoes  of  wire 
nails  that  steam  to  the  east. 

There  is  another  side  to  this  picture.  America  has  not  yet 
won  all  the  prizes  in  the  industrial  world.  Her  ship-building  in- 
dustry might  nearly  as  well  be  in  the  depths  of  the  Pacific.  We 
can  hold  the  America  cup  at  every  trial,  but  we  cannot  hold  a 
candle  beside  the  beacon  lights  that  illumine  the  ship-yards  on  the 
Clyde.  Our  native  wines  sell  at  half  a  dollar  a  bottle,  while  the 
foreign  article  commands  four  dollars.  We  can  burn  out  our 
stomach  linings  with  our  own  Kentucky  whiskey,  but  we  have  to 
go  to  France  and  Italy  for  our  light  wines.  Santos  Dumont  flew 
around  the  Eiffel  Tower  while  our  own  Langley  machine  tumbled 


PREFACE 


Vll 


into  the  Potomac.  To  France  we  had  to  go  to  learn  how  to  build 
automobiles  and  to  Hungary  to  learn  how  to  mill  flour. 

No  armed  and  muscled  warrior  ever  sprang  full-grown  from 
his  cradle,  and  no  giant  industry  has  ever  come  into  being  in  a 
year  or  a  decade.  It  takes  time  to  develop  the  machinery  and 
acquaint  the  world  with  the  advantages  of  a  new  aid  to  manu- 
facturing, commerce,  civilization,  or  human  comfort.  The  signal- 
fires  on  Sparta's  hills  were  but  the  forerunners  of  Marconi's  wire- 
less telegraph.  The  stone  axes  of  the  cave-dwellers  were  the  first 
types  of  the  wonderful  carving  and  sculpturing  machines  of  the 
twentieth  century.  Electricity  had  its  Franklin  as  well  as  its  Edi- 
son. The  Damascus  blade  had  to  come  before  the  dynamite  gun, 
and  Gutenberg  with  his  movable  types  was  needed  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations for  the  wonderful  presses  and  machines  that  roll  out  our 
modern  mammoth  editions  of  daily  newspapers. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  this  book  is  not  a  complete  record 
of  the  world's  industrial  progress,  because  in  the  nature  of  things 
a  single  volume  does  not  afford  the  space  for  so  vast  a  record.  It 
is  only  possible  to  select  some  of  the  more  prominent  industries, 
and  to  point  out  the  strides  by  which  they  have  advanced  to  their 
present  proportions. 

While  America  is  now  at  the  fore  of  industrial  progress  in 
many  lines,  owing  to  the  conditions  described,  it  is  questionable 
whether  she  can  hope  to  retain  her  lead,  as  many  of  the  causes 
that  led  to  the  upbuilding  of  our  industries  are  sure  to  be  repeated 
with  increased  force  in  those  other  quarters  of  the  globe  that  are 
opening  up  to  progress  and  civilization,  and  which  we  have  been 
pleased  to  think  of  heretofore  as  benighted  regions.  He  who  reads 
the  chapter  describing  railway  progress  in  Africa,  China,  Asia,  Aus- 
tralia, etc.,  can  hardly  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  idea  that  no 
man  can  measure  the  possibilities  of  their  industrial  growth.  Who 
can  say  that  at  the  close  of  the  twentieth  century  Darkest  Africa 
may  not  be  underselling  us  in  our  home  markets?  Who  can  be 
sure  that  in  the  development  of  China  and'  the  East  there  may 
not  come  an  industrial  supremacy  that  shall  pale  our  light?  How 
can  we  know  that  there  are  not  now  in  far-off  Australia  some  prat- 
tling Newtons,  Faradays,  and  Roentgens  who  will  paralyze  our 
industries  by  new  discoveries?  Perhaps  from  the  hills  of  old  Peru 
or  the  broad  acres  of  Brazil  may  spring  new  and  better  conditions 
that  will  leave  the  United  States  tottering  along  as  a  tail-ender  in 
the  race. 

To-day  the  industry  is  exceptional  in  which  there  has  not  been 


vm 


PREFACE 


an  entire  alteration  and  renewal  in  the  machinery  used  within  fif- 
teen years.  Machines  have  to  be  thrown  into  the  scrap-heap  more 
often  because  they  are  too  slow  and  out  of  date  rather  than  that 
they  are  worn  out.  Invention  has  been  stimulated  to  a  degree  here- 
tofore unknown,  and  the  rewards  obtained  by  the  sale  of  improved 
machinery  are  so  great  in  many  cases  as  to  stimulate  experiment 
to  a  surprising  degree,  so  much  so  that  it  has  been  remarked  in 
more  than  one  field  of  industry  that  more  money  has  been  spent  in 
trying  to  improve  machines  than  has  been  made  by  their  operation. 
A  preface  is  usually  a  word  of  apology,  and,  although  it  takes 
first  position  in  a  book,  it  is  written  last.  I  opine  that  the  reason 
why  the  average  preface  takes  the  apologetic  tone  is  that  the  aver- 
age author  at  the  close  of  his  work  comes  to  feel  how  inadequately 
he  has  performed  his  task.  In  my  own  case  it  is  with  mingled 
feelings  of  pride  for  America's  position  in  the  world  of  industry, 
and  regret  that  I  have  been  unable  to  present  it  in  more  complete 
and  elaborate  form,  that  I  lay  down  my  pen  and  resign  this  work 
to  the  mercies  of  the  reading  public. 

Charles    H.  Cochrane. 

New  York,  December  3,  1904, 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Electrical  Marvels  of  the  Last  Decade 17 

Electricity  for  the  Million 39 

Marconi's  Victory  over  the  Ether 50 

The  Kingdom  of  Iron  and  Steel 64 

The  Conquest  of  the  Air 91 

The  Evolution  in  Vehicles  and  Roadways 118 

The  Race  for  Supremacy  on  the  Seas T47 

The   Tools   of   Destruction 175 

Some   Great   Canals   and   Tunnels 194 

Great    Farms    and    Farming   Machinery 208 

The  Iron  Horse  and  the  Railways 223 

The  Light  of  To-day  and  of  To-morrow 254 

From    Logging-Camp   to    Planing-Mill 274 

In  the  Bowels  of  the  Earth 292 

Modern   Foods   and   Food   Preservation 326 

How   We    Obtain    Drinking- Water 338 

Some    Interesting    Engineering    Enterprises 346 

The  Art  Preservative  of  All  Other  Arts 354 

The  Making  of  Newspapers  and  Periodicals 376 

The  Age  of  Paper 388 

The   Wonderful   Instruments   of    Science 400 

Bridges — Big,   Little,   and    Peculiar 412 

The   Machinery  of   Amusement 426 

How  Money  is   Manufactured 441 

Machine  Tools  and  Machine   Making 449 

Progress    in    Power    Producers 461 

Cotton,    Wool,    and    Textile    Manufactures 483 

Revolution  in  Methods  of  Glass-Making 495 

Tendency  of   Modern   Architecture 502 

Flour-Milling  by   Modern   Machinery 517 

The  Leather  and  Shoe  Trades 527 

Rubber  and  Rubber  Goods 538 

The  Manufacture  of  Liquors 543 

The  Tobacco  Industry 550 

Petroleum   and  Oil  Refining 556 

Clay  and  Its   Products 566 

Changes  in   Sugar  Manufacture 573 

The    Furniture    Trade 579 

The    Quarrying    Industry 583 

Utilization  of  Factory  Wastes  and  By-Products 588 

Garbage    and    Waste    Material 594 

Odd  and  Curious  Industries  and  Mechanisms 602 

Minor  Miscellaneous  Industries 618 

ix 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

Portrait   Frontispiece. 

North  America  in   1800 xxi 

North  America   in    1900 xxi 

Asia    in    1800 xxii 

Asia    in    1900 xxii 

Africa  in   1800 xxiii 

Africa  in   1900 xxiii 

Australia   in   180G xxiv 

Australia   in   1900 xxiv 

Value  of  Manufactured  Products xxvi 

A  1500  kw.  Electric  Generator 19 

Engine-Room  of  an  Electric-Power  Station 2t, 

Burry's    Printing    Telegraph ; 26 

Murray's   Printing  Telegraph 27 

Electric    Sign    Flasher 29 

The  X-Ray  and  Fluoroscope  in   Surgery 31 

Electric   Track-Welding    Machine 33 

Electro-Magnet  for  Lifting  Pig  Iron 34 

A   Selective  Converter 35 

Electric    Parlor-Car   Interior 36 

The  Parts  of  a  Dynamo 40 

Cutting  Wheel-Pit  for  Shafts  of  the  Great  Dynamos  at  Niagara  Falls 42 

A   Three-Unit   Balancing   Transformer 43 

Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Stations 51 

Diagram  of  Marconi's   Magnetic  Detector 56 

Iron  and  Steel  Manufacture 65 

End  View  of  Steel-Casting  Pit,  Bethlehem  Steel  Works 66 

Motor  Hauling  Reheated  Blooms  to  Rail  Mill 68 

A   Steel-Bending   Machine 69 

Unloading  Ore  from  Steamboat  with   Brown  Conveyors 71 

Edison's  Magnetic  Ore  Separator jt, 

A  Solid  Ingot  of  Compressed  Steel  before  Boring 75 

Transferring  Ore  from  one  Railway  to  Another ' y6 

Blooming-Mill,   showing   Ingot   on   Buggy yj 

Wellman  Open-Hearth  Steel  Furnace 78 

Wellman  Open-Hearth  Furnace,  Tipped  for  Pouring 79 

Soaking  Pits,   showing  Electric   Tongs 80 

Tempering    a    Steel    Shaft : 81 

Flying  Shear 83 

Flying   Shear   in   a   Rail   Mill 84 

Whitworth   Armor-Plate    Press 86 

A  Steel  Ingot  at  the  Bethlehem  Works 88 


xii  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Cross-Section  of  Mould  for  Iron  Pipe 89 

The  Santos   Dumont,   No.    10 92 

Lilienthal's    Soaring    Apparatus 94 

Pilcher's    Soaring    Machine 95 

Chanute's   Soaring  Apparatus 96 

The  Whitehead  Aeroplane 97 

Wright  Brothers'  Aerostat 98 

Lamson's    Aerocurve    Kite 102 

Bell's   Four-Celled  Tetrahedral   Kite 103 

Carl   E.   Myers's   Sky-Cycle 104 

The  Santos  Dumont  Airship  that  circled  the  Eiffel  Tower 105 

Roze's  Aviator,  showing  Mechanism 107 

Steering  Mechanism   of  Roze's   Aviator 108 

The  Cochrane  Dirigible   Balloon 109 

Maxim's   Flying  Machine iii 

Langley's  Aerodrome  of  1903 113 

The  Kress  Aeroplane 115 

A  Touring  Auto 120 

Steel  Trackway  in  New  York 122 

Carriage  Works,  Assembling  Department 123 

Carriage  Works,  Gluing  Department 123 

The  White  Touring  Car 128 

The  Twenty  Horse-Power  Winton  Touring  Car 129 

Electric  Vehicle  Company's  Runabout 130 

Electric  Vehicle  Company's  Runabout,  with  Mechanism  Exposed 130 

An  Auto- Van 131 

Electric  Vehicle  Company's  Auto-Truck 133 

Applying  Clay  to  a  Sandy  Road 135 

A  Road  in  Los  Angeles  before  Oiling 137 

Same  Road  in  Los  Angeles  after  Oiling 137 

A  Stone-Crushing  Outfit  for  Road  Building 139 

Depositing  Stone  on  a  Road 141 

The  Champion  Road-Making  Machine 142 

Ute  Pass,  Colorado 143 

Ouray  and  Silverton  Toll-Road,  Colorado 143 

Sections  of  Oiled  Road,  showing  Different  Thicknesses  of  Oil  Crust 144 

Los  Angeles,  California,  Oiled  Road  after  Three  Months'  Wear 145 

A  Newly  Finished  Oil  Road 146 

Shamrock  III 148 

The  New  Side  System  of  Launching 149 

First-Class  Battle-Ship  Kearsarge,  showing  Double  Turrets 151 

First-Class   Battle-Ship   Iowa 152 

Armored  Cruiser  New  York 153 

The  Steamship  St.  Louis 154 

Diagram  of  the  United  States  Battle-Ship  Connecticut 156 

Coaling  at  Sea 157 

The  Steam- Yacht  Arrow  at  Full  Speed l6l 

Steamer  in  Floating  Dock 163 

Dry-Dock  of  Detroit  Shipbuilding  Company 163 

A  16,060  Horse-Power  Marine  Engine 165 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 

Page 

Crank-Shafts  of  Ocean  Steamship 167 

Rudder  and  Propellers  of  Ocean  Steamship 168 

The  Minnesota — Largest  American-Built  Steamship 171 

Whaleback  in  Canal  Lock,  Sault  Ste.  Marie 173 

The  Umbrella-Boat 174 

Submarine  Mines  and  Torpedoes lyc^ 

A  Torpedo  in  its  Tube 176 

A  Submarine  Torpedo-Boat 177 

Holland  Submarine  Torpedo-Boat 178 

Burgess's  Subsurface  Torpedo-Boat 179 

Old-Time  Fort  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida 181 

A  Rapid-Fire  Gun,  with  Shield 183 

The  Sixteen-Inch  Gun  at  Sandy  Hook 184 

Diagram  showing  Mechanism  of  a  Disappearing  Gun 185 

Breech  Mechanism  of  a  Large  Gun 186 

Section  of  Brown  Segmental  Gun 187 

Old-Time  Wooden  Gunboat  Vermont,  United  States  Navy- Yard,  Brooklyn..    189 

Armor  Plates  tested  by  Gunshots igo 

Springfield  Rifle  Mechanism 192 

A  Rifle  Fitted  with  a  Hyposcope 192 

The  New  Magazine  Pistol 193 

High  Mine  Canal,  Platte  Carton 194 

Irrigation  Canal,   Stockdale,  California 195 

Locks  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal 196 

Interior  of  Power-House,  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal 197 

A  Modern  Canal  Lock ig8 

Excavating  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal „ .  .  200 

A  Rock-Drill 201 

A  View  in  the  Simplon  Tunnel 203 

Spree  Tunnel,  showing  Hydraulic  Shield 204 

Tunnelling  under  East  River 205 

Station  in  the  New  York  Subway 206 

The  Chicago  Tunnel  Sewer 207 

Reaping  in  a  Field  of  Wheat 209 

A  Six-Disk  Steam-Plow  at  Work 213 

Apparatus  for  Studying  Soil-Grains 215 

The  Ivel  Agricultural  Motor 218 

The  Gas-Engine  on  the  Farm  (operating  a  Cream  Separator) 220 

A  Telephone  Dissected 222 

A  Baldwin  Electric  Locomotive -. 224 

Berlin-Zossen  Electric  Railway,  illustrating  Track  and  Interior  of  Car 225 

The  Behr  Monorail  System 227 

The  Baltimore- Washington  Monorail  System 228 

Modern  Baldwin  Passenger  Locomotive 229 

One  Hundred  and  Forty-Four-Ton  American  Freight  Locomotive 230 

Ballasting  a  Railway  Embankment 232 

Diagram  showing  Common  Arrangement  of  Cylinders  in  a  Compound  Loco- 
motive  ^33 

The  Brill  Convertible  Car 235 

Railway  Tunnel  and  Embankment,  Tomasopa  Canon,  Mexico 237 


xiv  LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Constructing  an  Elevated  Railway 238 

Goodwin  Self-Dumping  Cars  unloading  on  a  Trestle 240 

Elevated  Electric  Railway  at  iioth  Street,  New  York 241 

Barmen  Suspended  Railway,  showing  Turn 242 

Barmen  Suspended  Railway 244 

On  the  Pike's  Peak  Railway 246 

A  Compressed-Air  Mine  Locomotive 247 

A  Pittsburg  Pressed-Steel  Car 248 

The  Hurley  Lightning  Track-Layer 249 

Throwing  a  Railway  Track 250 

Block  Signal  System,  Pennsylvania  Railroad 251 

Front  of  Switchboard 256 

Rear  of   Switchboard 256 

The  Nernst  Electric  Lamp 260 

Projector  on  Mt.  Lowe,  California 261 

Carter  Acetylene  Generator 262 

Colt  Acetylene  Gas  Machine 263 

Dellwick-Fleischer  Water-Gas  Apparatus 265 

Sunlight  Acetylene  Gas  Machine 266 

Lighthouse  Projectors 268 

Map  of  Maine  Coast,  showing  how  it  is  guarded  by  Lighthouses 270 

Fog-Horn  Plant  on  Faulkner  Island 272 

The  Lumber  Industry 275 

Primitive  Lumbering  in  Kentucky 276 

Timber  Tract  Destroyed  by  Fire 277 

Section  of  Lumber  Flume  in  "  Big  Tree"  District  of  California 278 

Hauling  Logs  on  a  Skidway 280 

A  Typical  Western  Lumber-Mil  1 283 

A  Single-Saw  Resawing  Machine 285 

A  Swing-Saw   286 

A  Resawing  Band-Saw 287 

A  Saw-Table 288 

Wood-Moulding  Machine   288 

Double-Surfacing  Machine   289 

Triple-Drum  Sanding  Machine 289 

Fast-Feed  Flooring  Machine 290 

A  Mine-Shaft  Station  at  Kimberley 292 

Illustrating  Method  of  Boring  and  Blasting 294 

A  Steam-Stamp   295 

Sand-Pumps    296 

A  Diamond  Prospecting  Drill 298 

An  Electric  Mine  Locomotive 299 

River  Dredge  Operating  for  Gold-Bearing  Mud 300 

Sinking  a  Small   Shaft  for  Prospecting 302 

View  in  a  Silver  Mine 303 

An  Evans'  Slime-Table 304 

A  Harz  Gigging-Machine 305 

Group  of  Rotating  Screens 307 

A  Frue  Vanner 309 

Conical  Drum-Hoisting  Engine 311 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

Page 

A  Hooded  Safety  Mine-Cage 312 

Landing-Dog    313 

The  "  Jubilee'"  Diamond 314 

Ingersoll-Sergeant  Drills  Working  in  South  African  Diamond  Mine 315 

Showing  Method  of  Stoping  in  South  African  Diamond  Mine 316 

A  Washing-Plant  in  the  De  Beers  Floors 318 

Diamond   Sorter,  or  "'  Greaser" 319 

Jeffrey  Locomotive  and  Mine  Car 320 

British   Coal-Fields 321 

Coal-Miners  Working  a  Longwall  Face 322 

A  Modern  British  Colliery 323 

A  Jeffrey  Coal-Cutting  Machine 324 

Cutting  Out  Tops  for  Tin  Cans 327 

Salmon  Fishery  in  Portland,  Oregon 329 

Grain  Awaiting  Shipment 33  r 

Discharging  Wheat  from  a  Vessel  to  a  Lighter 333 

Sectional  View  of  the  Frick  Company's  Ice-Making  Machine 335 

McGowan  Steam- Pump  336 

The  Deane  Artesian  Engine  and  Pump 339 

Stand-Pipe,  Brooklyn,  New  York 341 

A  Steam- Pump  for  Large  Water- Works 343 

The  New  Croton  Dam 345 

Great  Nile  Dam  at  Assiut 348 

Dam  at  Assouan , 348 

Dam  at  Spier  Falls 349 

A  Sea-Going  Dredge 350 

The  Lidgerwood  Rapid  Unloader 351 

Shaping  the  Sides  of  a  Track  with  Lidgerwood  Grading-Machine 353 

The  Press  of  Gutenberg 354 

Photo-Engraver's  Photographic  Apparatus 355 

Stripping  the  Plate 356 

Photographing  with   Prismatic  Reflector 357 

Pouring  on  "the  Collodion 358 

Whirling  the  Plate 358 

Taking  a  Proof , 359 

The  Cottrell  Cylinder  Press 361 

The  Campbell  Company's  New  Century  Press 361 

The  Scott  Cylinder  Press 362 

The  Scott  "  All-Size"  Rotary  Press 362 

Dexter  Automatic  Feeder  Supplying  Sheets  to  a  Printing-Press 363 

The  Linotype 365 

Lanston  Monotype  Keyboard 366 

Lanston  Monotype  Type-Casting  Machine 367 

Smyth  New  Model  Book-Case  Machine 37^ 

Smyth  Book-Sewing  Machine,  No.  4 37^ 

Smyth  Book-Case  Machine 373 

Rotary  Board-Cutter 373 

Smyth   Gluing-Machine 374 

Dexter  Feeding  and  Folding  Machines 374 

Hoe's  Latest  Large  Color-Printing  Newspaper  Press 378 


xvi  LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

The  Autoplate  or  Automatic  Stereotyping  Machine 380 

Editor  Dictating  to  the  Phonograph 383 

Composing  on  the  Linotype  from  Phonograph  Dictation 385 

Newspapers  and  Periodicals 387 

Making  Paper  by  Hand 388 

Logs  in  the  Forest 389 

A  Log  Raft  Containing  6,000,000  Feet 390 

Hauling  Chips  to  the  Paper-Mill 391 

The  Dilts  New  Century  Pulp-Grinder 393 

The  Dilts  Wet  Machine 395 

A  Log  Haul-up  at  a  Lumber-Mill 397 

Machine  for  Reducing  the  Indian-Corn  Plant  for  Paper-Making 398 

Equatorial  Telescope,  Lick  Observatory 400 

The  "  Grande  Lunette"  Reflecting  Telescope 402 

The  Crossley  Reflector 404 

Astronomical  Observatory,  Harvard  University 405 

Pendulum  Experiment  for  Proving  Earth's  Rotation 406 

Cervenka's  Phonograph  408 

Marage's  Talking  Casts 409 

Principle  of  the  Bridge  Truss 412 

Cantilever  Bridge  at  Niagara 413 

Halstead  Street  Tower  Bridge,  Chicago 414 

Comparison  of  Bridge  Towers  over  East  River,  New  York 417 

Spiral  Approach  to  High  Bridge,  Hastings,  Minnesota 419 

Washington  Bridge,  New  York 420 

Victoria  Tubular  Bridge,  Montreal,  Canada 421 

Scherer  Rolling  Lift-Bridge,  State  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois 422 

Modern  Steel  Trestle  Bridge,  Japan 423 

Willis  Avenue  Bridge,  New  York 424 

The  Droz  Automatons 426 

Mechanism  of  the  "  Writer" 428 

The  Puppet  Theatre 429 

The  Floating  Lady  Trick 432 

The  Disappearing  Lady 434 

The  Circle  of  Death 435 

The  "  Sea  Serpent"  of  the  Jardin  d'  Accliinatation 437 

Interior  of  the  Sea  Serpent 438 

A  Mint  Stamping-Press 442 

Annealing  Furnaces,  Philadelphia  Mint 443 

Gas-Making  Plant  of  American  Gas-Furnace  Company  at  Philadelphia  Mint.   444 

Cupelling  445 

The  Melting-Room,  Philadelphia  Mint 447 

Cutting  Out  Coin  Blanks 448 

A  Modern  Lathe  with  Individual  Electric  Motor 449 

Cincinnati  Milling-Machine,  with  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Motor 450 

A  Modern  Planer 451 

National  Machinery  Company's  Triple-Bolt  Cutter 452 

An  Electric  Gantry  Crane 453 

A  Pratt  &  Whitney  Lathe , 454 

Boring-Machine,  Electrically  Equipped 455 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xvii 

Pack 

A  Sellers  Punching-Machine 456 

Gould  &  Eberhardt  Shaper 457 

A  Niles  Boring-Mill 45c, 

Westinghouse  Compound  Steam-Engine 463 

Warren's  Rotary  Engine 464 

Cross-Section  of  Rotai^y  Engine 464 

Piston- Wheel  of  Rotary  Engine 465 

Branca's  Steam-Turbine,  a.d.  1629 465 

De  Laval  Steam-Turbine 466 

De  Laval  300  Horse-Power  Steam-Turbine  Motor 467 

Diagram  Illustrating  Principle  of  Westinghouse-Parsons  Steam-Turbine....   468 
Waste  Water  Returning  to  Niagara  River  after  Furnishing  Power  to  Fac- 
tories       470 

Westinghouse  Gas-Engine 472 

The  Rand  Direct- Acting  Steam  Air-Compressor 473 

Large  Tandem  Stationary  Engines 474 

Hornsby-Akroyd  Oil-Engine 476 

A  Mining  Engine  made  in  Sections  for  Transportation  on  Muleback 478 

The  Pelton  Water- Wheel 479 

De  la  Vergne  Upright  Pumping-Engine 480 

The  Los  Angeles  Sun-Motor 482 

A  Steamer  Laden  with  Cotton 484 

Mason  Manufacturing  Company's  Loom 485 

Cotton  Machinery 487 

A  Dobby  490 

Round  Cotton-Bale  and  Press 491 

Glass-Bottle-Making  Machine   498 

Glass-Cutting  500 

Fisher's  Building,  Chicago 503 

Dufiferin  Gate,  Quebec. . 504 

New  York  Stock  Exchange,  Interior 505 

Museum  of  Art,  St.  Louis,  Missouri 506 

East  Entrance,  Capitol  at  Washington,  D.  C 507 

Fiat-Iron  Building,  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue.  New  York  City 508 

State  House,  Boston,  Massachusetts 509 

Interior  of  Library,  University  of  Pennsylvania 510 

Plymouth  Congregational  Church,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 511 

General  Grant's  Tomb,  Riverside  Drive,  New  York.  . 512 

Hotel  Waldorf-Astoria SU 

Supreme  Court   Building,  Appellate  Division ,. 514 

150-Ton  Rotary  Cernent  Kiln  at  Edison  Portland  Cement  Company 515 

Giant  Rolls  for  Breaking  Rock  in  Manufacture  of  Portland  Cement 516 

Circular  Tile  Grain  Elevators,  Minneapolis 518 

1600-Bushel  Grain  Scales 5i9 

A  Roller-Mill  520 

A  Middlings  Purifier 521 

Square  Flour-Sifter • 522 

Nordyke  and  Marmon's  Differential  Reel  for  Dressing  Flour 523 

Upright  Bran-Duster .524 

Vaughn  Leather-Glazing  Machine 527 

B 


xviii  LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Automatic  Bleaching-Machine  528 

Scrubbing-Machine    530 

Vaughn   Bark-Cutter    531 

Vaughn  Pendulum  Whitening  Machine 533 

Belt  Knife  Splitting-Machine 535 

Tapping   a    Rubber-Tree 538 

Curing  Rubber 538 

View  in  Rubber  Works,  showing  Calendering  Machine 539 

Rubber  Boot  Manufacture 540 

Grinding  and  Cleaning  Rubber 541 

Varnishing  Rubber 541 

A  Typical  Distilling  Plant 544 

Views  in  a  Brewery 546 

Barnard's  Water-Cooling  Apparatus  for  Breweries,  etc 548 

Duke's  Original  Factory  at  Durham,  North  Carolina 551 

The  Present  Duke  Factory  at  Durham 553 

Oil-Derrick   in  Java 557 

Diagram  of  a  Steel  Rig  for  Drilling  Oil-Wells 559 

Type  of  Engine  Used  by  Oil  Producers 561 

A  Prospecting  Drill 562 

Manner  of  Drilling  Oil-Weil 564 

A  Torpedo  564 

French  Brick-Making  Machine 566 

Bonnot  Pug-Mill   567 

German  Brick-Making  Machine,  with  Feeder 568 

American    (Bonnot)    Brick-Machine 569 

Jeffrey  Brick  Conveying  Machine 570 

Hauling  Sugar-Cane  by  Electric  Railway  in  Hawaii 574 

Interior  View  of  Standard  Beet-Sugar  Company  at  Leavitt,  Nebraska 575 

Alvarado   (California)   Factory  of  American  Beet-Sugar  Company 576 

Centrifugal  Machines  used  in  Sugar  Manufacture 577 

Band  Sawing-Machines  used  by  Manufacturers  of  Furniture 580 

Double-End  Tenoning-Machine 581 

Broaching  in  Slate  with  Quarry  Bar 583 

Ingersoll-Sergeant   Track   Channeller 584 

A  Sullivan  Channeller  at  Work 585 

Quarrying  in  Vermont 587 

View  in  Cement  Manufactory 589 

The  Reichhelm  Blower,  for  Ventilating,  etc 591 

A  Garbage  Press 595 

Unloading  a  Garbage  Scow 596 

View  in  Baltimore  Garbage  Reduction  Works 598 

View  in  Baltimore  Garbage  Reduction  Works 599 

Trolley  Bus  at  Scranton,  Pennsylvania 602 

Sculpturing  Machine  beginning  Work  on  Busts 603 

Sculpturing  Machine  making  Finishing  Cuts  on  Busts 605 

United  States  Life-Saving  Station,  Macatawa  Park,  Michigan 606 

Raid's  Apparatus  for  Obtaining  Electricity  Direct  from  Coal 608 

Fleet  of  Ice- Yachts 610 

A  Fire-Ladder   61 1 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  xix 

Page 

A  Comptometer 612 

Pikerdike  Letter-Cancelling  Machine 613 

Mechanism  of  a  Fare-Registering  Machine 614 

Shaw  Electric   Crane,  Lifting   150-Ton  Locomotive 616 

View  in  Lead-Pencil  Factory 618 

Placing  Clothing  in  the  Washer 622 

The  Drying  Closets  of  a  Modern  Laundry 623 

Mechanism   of  a   Freight  Elevator 627 

A  Vertical  Cylinder  Hydraulic  Elevator 628 

The  Escalator 629 

Telpherage  System  at  a  Gas- Works 630 

Telpherage  System,  showing  Carriers  and  Hoist 631 

Yoke  Riveter  making  a  Government  Buoy 632 

A  Pneumatic  Hammer 633 

Wire-Drawing  Mechanism  of  the  Morgan  Construction  Company 634 

A  Wire-Nail  Machine ,,,,,,,., , 635 


INTRODUCTORY 


Could  George  Washington,  who  died  in  December,  1799,  have 
returned  to  the  world  in  this  twentieth  century,  he  would  find  in  Amer- 
ica a  land  comparable  with  those  portrayed  in  the  Arabian  Nights, 
while  every  other  quarter  of  the  globe  also  scintillated  the  wonderful 
progress  wrought  by  the  march  of  what  we  call  industries.  It  is  not 
the  geographers  who  have  changed  the  maps  of  the  continent  as  here 
illustrated,  but  the  mechanics,  and  manufacturers,  and  merchants,  who, 


North  America  in  iSoo. 


North  America  in  1900. 


in  their  efforts  to  advance  their  own  interests,  haye  built  giant  industries 
that  have  literally  altered  conditions  from  pole  to  pole. 

Our  Washington  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  ride  in  a  railway 
train,  or  to  read  a  live  morning  newspaper  ;  he  received  no  telegrams, 
and  wrote  his  letters  with  a  quill  pen  ;  he  never  slept  in  a  steam-heated 
room,  nor  wore  a  pair  of  machine-made  shoes.  Nearly  all  the  things 
that  we  of  to-day  regard  as  necessities  were  to   him  utterly  unknown. 


XXll 


INTRODUCTORY 


But  he  gave  us  the  chance  to  make  America  what  it  is,  the  leader  of 
the  world's  industries,  and  so  we  have  profited  bv  the  foundation-stones 
he  laid,   and  therefore  revere  his  memorv. 


When  we  look  on  these  maps,  and  see  North  America  as  it  was 
and  as  it  is,  Asia  as  it  was  and  is,  and  Africa  as  it  was  and  is,  we  can- 
not but  realize  that  the  civilization  of  the  world  has  just  begun,  and 
that  education  is  only  now  reaching  out  e\erywhere,  with  the  probable 
result  that  all  men  of  all  races,  all  tongues,  and  all  colors  will  ere  long 


take  up  their  share  of  progress  in  industrial  science,  with  results  that 
must  prove  as  marvellous  in  the  future,  as  the  progress  of  the  past 
would  seem  to  Washington. 


INTRODUCTORY  xxiii 

It  is   a   tale   of  manufacturing  progress   that  is   not   half  told,    and 
-which  never  can  be  told  in  full,  because  it  grows  faster  than  the  ability 


y 


-  ■  -   ' 

^^^^m^^^^ 

<i 

al 

H^^^Hi^bv^ 

h— =^HBfeJ 

^W'^^ 

AFRICA 

IN 

1800. 

^^\ 

to    record    its   development.       In   every   industry  in    every  city  on  the 
globe  are  geniuses  studying  how  to  advance  the  lines  of  work  in  which 


they  are  engaged.      Every  year  the  standards  that  win  success  are  set 
higher,  yet  every  year  witnesses  increasing  gains  and  greater  triumphs. 


XXIV 


INTRODUCTORY 


There  seems  to  be  no  end  to  Industrial  progress.  The  world  is  full  of 
workers — men  who  love  to  work  for  the  sake  of  the  work  itself,  and 
these  are  the  ones  who  contribute  to  the  growth  I  have  attempted  to 
describe  in  these  pages. 

America's  growth  is  most  marked  in  the  past  quarter  of  a  century, 
because  she  is  the  youngest  of  the  great  nations.  The  next  quarter 
of  a  century  may  bring  the  industrious  Japanese  into  the  lime-light,  or 
perhaps  some  South  American  country  may  eclipse  all  records  of  de- 
velopment. 

Some  idea  of  the  enormous  advances  made  by  the  United  States 
during  the  last  half-century  may  be  gleaned  by  studying  the  diagram 
showing  the  development  of  manufacturing  in  the  several  States.  The 
length  of  the  heavy  black  lines  indicates  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 


f 

AUSTRALIA 

IN 

1800. 

-  llh  i^^ii     ^s^ 

^r^^^^k. 

__:^^ A ^ 

H^ 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^B 

For  instance,  in  1850  New  York's  gross  manufactures  for  the  year 
amounted  to  $240,000,000,  while  in  1900  they  totalled  $2, 175,000,000. 
All  of  the  older  States  show  amazing  increases  of  this  character. 

The  manufactured  goods  exchanged  by  the  nations  of  the  world 
amount  to  about  $4,000,000,000  annually,  and  the  United  States  con- 
tributes about  one-tenth  of  the  total.  Our  exports  of  manufactured 
goods  doubled  between  1895  and  1904,  but  we  are  still  a  long  way 
behind  Great  Britain,  which  contributes  a  fourth  of  the  total,  and  Ger- 
many, which  contributes  a  fifth.  Curiously  enough,  half  of  the  manu- 
factured goods  we  send  out  goes  to  Great  Britain,  the  nation  that  supplies 
so  many  others  with  manufactured  articles. 

The  following  table  shows  the  total  value  of  manufactures  imported 


INTRODUCTORY  xxv 

into  and  exported  out  of  the  leading  countries   of  the  world,    and   the 
percentage  which  manufactures  form  of  the  total  in  each  case  : 


Countries. 


Imports. 


Per  Cent, 
of  Mfd. 
Imports. 


Argentine  Republic 

Australia 

Austria-Hungary  . 

Belgium 

Brazil 

Canada     

Denmark 

France 

Germany 

Italy 

Japan    

Netherlands    .    .    . 

Norway 

Portugal 

Russia 

Spain 

Sweden 

Switzerland  .  .  . 
United  Kingdom  . 
United  States  .    .    . 


156 

113 
104 

43 
112 

39: 
212 
366 
lOI, 

69: 

241, 

33, 
23, 

158, 

57: 

51, 

93, 
725, 

344; 


,717,000 
,204,000 
988,000 
210,000 
020,000 
506,000 
855,000 
592,000 
669.000 
739,000 
895,000 
739,000 
595.000 
986,000 
166,000 
943,000 
835,000 
049,000 
752,000 
816,000 


6.S1 

76.3 
32.6 

23-7 
44.8 

57.3 
37-5 
24.9 
28.4 
36.8 
51.7 
295 
43-5 
39-9 
56.4 
37-6 
42.0 
42.7 
28.2 
38.2 


Exports. 


Per  Cent, 
of  Mfd. 
Exports. 


$704,000 

13.754,000 

187,364,000 

178,840,000 

43,000 

18,076,000 

3,882,000 

508,803,000 

824,051,000 

75.373.900 

59,902,000 

231,510,000 

12,083,000 

3,366,000 

56,069,000 

41,330.000 

39,419,000 

113, III, COO 

1,076,046,000 

403,631,050 


0.4 

10.2 

48.3 

49-9 

10.5 

4-9 
63.2 
78.1 
28.5 
47.0 

33-3 
28.8 
10.9 

14-5 
29.0 
41.6 
60.1 

77-9 
29.7 


In  the  following  pages  I  have  endeavored  to  outline  some  im- 
pressions as  to  what  has  been  accomplished  in  a  number  of  leading 
divisions  of  the  world's  work.  They  may  serve  to  interest  those  who 
have  not  closely  followed  the  progress  of  events  in  particular  lines  ; 
but  in  a  dozen  years  from  now  all  that  is  written  here  will  be  an  old 
story,  and  new  inventions  and  new  developments  will  have  shifted  the 
centre  of  observation  to  other  scenes.  It  may  then  be  the  age  of 
radium,  of  helium,  or  of  something  for  which  there  is  not  a  word 
coined,  because  it  is  not  yet  known  to  us. 


XXVI 


INTRODUCTORY 


GROSS  VALUE   OF  MANUFACTURED   PRODUCTS   OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES   BETWEEN   1850  AND   1900 


HUNDREDS   or  MILLIONS  OF  OOUARS 


m 


m 


1900 
1690 
(860 


m 


■ 


I9O0 

(690 

leeo 

•670 
fSGO 


1900 

reso 
1880 
fB70 


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T 


w 


7 

1 


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m 


m^ 


^ 

' 


E 

1 

■" 

Irw 

oT' 

leeo 

m 

I870 

m 

1860 

m 

1850 

■ 

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!890 

■ 

1860 

IS 

mi 

• 

1890 

;^ 

I 

la7o 

■ 

I 

leso 

1 

18M 

lino 

^tJAS 

1890 

■■ 

iiH 

■ 

«.,.-p.. 

1900 

1 

1890 

■■ 

leeo 

r 

1850 

1      ' 

;E 

■ 

"" 

leeo 

1 

1850 

PC. 

1890 

M 

lln 

;«o 

1900 

■ 

^, 

T 


1900 
1890 
I860 
1870 
■8«0 

leso 


BOO 

_- 

r- 

'l870 

lE 

UISSISSIM 

^^s 

1 

p 

;re°o 

■ 

ION* 

1890 

1900 

r-^ 

r 

1880 

ISOO 
1890 

r^ 

_.o,. 

Modern  Industrial  Progress 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE    LAST    DECADE 

Electricity  is  Ijelieved  to  pervade  the  universe.  Astronomers 
see  evidence  of  its  action  in  the  sun,  in  the  stars,  and  in  comets.  Its 
properties  are  so  varied,  and  it  affects  substances  so  differently,  that 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  we  have  as  yet  learned  but  a  fraction  of  what 
mankind  is  destined  to  know  about  this  wonderful  thing.  It  comes 
nearer  to  being  a  source  of  energy  or  the  fabled  perpetual  motion 
than  anything  else  in  the  encyclopaedia.  Because  it  so  readily  lends 
itself  to  the  transmission  of  energy,  we  think  of  it  as  a  source  of 
power,  whereas  in  reality  it  is  but  a  means  of  transmitting  pow-er, 
as  are  the  endless  leather  belts  commonly  used  to  drive  machinery. 
Experience  indicates  that  it  can  be  used  for  the  transmission  of 
almost  anything,  and  that  it  is  possible  by  electricity  to  cause  a  repe- 
tition of  almost  any  act  at  a  distance.  We  can  now  telegraph  through 
the  ether  across  the  Atlantic,  and  are  on  the  threshold  of  wireless 
telephony  also,  as  described  in  the  chapter  entitled  "  Marconi's  Vic- 
tory over  the  Ether." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  not  know  what  electricity  is.  and  the 
theories  regarding  its  nature  have  changed  very  much  within  a  few^ 
years,  and  unquestionably  will  be  subject  to  still  further  revision. 
Electricians  have  simply  taken  the  facts  about  electricity  and  con- 
structed theories  to  fit  them;  as  new  facts  have  been  learned,  the 
theories  have  been  modified  or  expanded  as  the  case  required. 

We  know  that  when  a  wire  is  moved  about  in  a  magnetic  field 
there  is  set  up  an  electromotive  force.  We  do  not  know  why  this 
is,  but  Faraday  proved  the  fact,  and  all  our  electric  motors  and  dyna- 
mos are  based  on  it.  So  are  our  theories,  and  just  as  our  motors 
and  dynamos  are  subject  to  change  and  improvement  as  we  learn 
more,  so  our  theories  require  occasional  revision.  It  is  really  no 
great  drawback  that  we  have  not  more  fully  mastered  the  nature  of 
electricity.  As  long  as  we  know  how  to  generate  it  cheaply,  and 
how  to  use  it  to  do  our  work  and  convey  our  messages,  we  are  doing 
very  well  for  mortals  with  limitations. 

9.  17 


l8  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

The  man  who  thinks  he  will  read  up  a  little  on  electricity  is 
sometimes  very  much  disappointed  because  he  cannot  learn  at  the 
outset  in  a  little  primer  just  what  electricity  is,  and  so  advance  step 
by  step  to  a  full  knowledge  of  the  subject.  But  there  is  no  help 
for  it :  the  student  of  electricity  of  this  day  must  begin,  as  did  those 
who  came  l^efore,  at  the  other  end  of  the  problem,  and  learn  how 
electricity  acts  and  what  it  does.  After  a  time  he  will  acquire  a 
notion  of  things  which  will  satisfy  his  craving  for  knowledge,  and 
will  cease  to  bother  much  about  the  theory. 

So  much  of  modern  industrial  progress  clusters  around  the  one 
word  electricity  that  it  is  impossible  to  treat  it  all  in  a  single  chapter. 
The  larger  subjects  that  are  subsidiary  to  this  will  be  found  under 
other  headings,  and  matters  pertaining  to  electric  traction,  electric 
lighting,  and  wireless  telegraphy  may  be  found  by  consulting  the 
index. 

There  has  been  steady  progress  in  the  development  of  standard 
electrical  machinery  of  all  sorts,  as  dynamos  and  motors,  but  the 
tendency  of  manufacture  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe  is 
different.  In  America  manufacturers  establish  certain  standard  sizes 
and  types  of  machines  in  order  to  make  the  parts  interchangeable. 
These  sizes  are  carefully  chosen  and  their  development  systemati- 
cally studied,  with  a  view  to  building  in  large  quantities,  that  the 
cost  may  be  reduced  and  broken  parts  readily  replaced.  This  is  the 
interchangeable  system,  which  is  of  distinctly  American  origin,  and 
is  generally  employed  in  making  machinery  of  any  sort  on  a  large 
scale  in  the  United  States.  It  would  be  a  perfect  system  were  it 
not  for  the  drawback  that  machinery  constantly  improves,  for  which 
no  provision  exists.  The  Continental  manufacturer  of  electrical 
machinery  adopts  a  radically  different  policy,  and  constructs  his 
machines  according  to  the  demands  or  specifications  of  the  customer. 

Where  a  customer  might  call  for  a  six-horse  motor  wired  for 
a  250-volt  current,  the  American  manufacturer  would  say,  "  The 
nearest  thing  we  have  is  a  five-horse  motor,  unless  you  take  an 
eight-horse,  and  both  are  wired  for  220  volts."  The  Continental 
manufacturer,  on  the  contrary,  would  simply  book  the  order  and 
deliver  the  goods  when  he  got  them  made.  The  customer  would 
get  exactly  what  he  asked  for,  but  he  would  pay  more  and  wait 
longer. 

The  American  method  has  the  advantage  that  the  manufacturer 
can  fill  orders  for  repairs  with  a  certainty  and  promptness  impossible 
under  the  Continental  method,  and  can  also  execute  large  orders 
in  less  time  and  usually  at  lower  cost.     The  American  plan  is  rather 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE   LAST    DECADE 


19 


more  popular  with  the  buying  pubHc,  as  shown  by  the  fact  that 
some  foreign  companies  are  adopting  it  with  success.  It  would 
undoubtedly  replace  the  Continental  plan  in  time,  were  it  not  that 
there  is  this  strong  argument  in  favor  of  the  latter  system :  elec- 
trical machinery  cannot  be  said  to  have  reached  the  stage  of 
development    attained    by    the    steam-engine    or    the    locomotive. 


Courtesy  of  Electrical  World  and  Engineer. 

A  1500  kw.  Electric  Generator. 

The  electrical  machines  of  to-day  may  be  in  the  scrap-heap  to- 
morrow, because  something  better  has  been  devised  that  makes 
it  unwise  to  continue  to  use  the  mechanisms  that  have  heretofore 
served.  When  changes  are  called  for,  the  European  manufacturer 
can  make  them  with  much  greater  ease  than  the  American,  as  the 
latter  may  have  to  throw  away  a  whole  line  of  expensive  tools  and 
jigs,  fitted  to  make  present  machines,  but  useless  for  the  new  ones. 


20  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

The  fact  that  the  American  maker  is  thus  tied  to  existing  machines 
puts  a  clog  on  development,  and  causes  him  in  many  cases  to  resist 
a  tendency  to  better  machines. 

Another  difference  in  the  manufacture  of  electrical  goods  and 
machinery  here  and  abroad  is  that  the  American  manufacturer  is 
apt  to  concentrate  his  energies  on  a  single  class  of  machines,  trying 
to  produce  the  best  of  certain  styles  at  the  lowest  cost,  in  large 
cjuantities,  while  the  Continental  manufacturer  usually  undertakes 
to  make  a  wide  range  of  machines  in  one  establishment.  Here  the 
American  system  undoubtedly  yields  the  best  results,  as  is  commonly 
the  case  with  specialization.  There  is  also  a  difference  in  the  sys- 
tems or  customs  of  finishing  electrical  goods  here  and  abroad.  The 
foreign  manufacturer  often  puts  a  fine  exterior  finish  or  polish  on 
non-exposed  parts,  and  when  his  machine  is  apart  it  looks  much 
better  than  the  American  make.  On  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  such 
finish  is  regarded  as  a  waste  of  labor,  and  seldom  or  never  do  manu- 
facturers give  a  finish  to  parts  that  are  covered  up  in  the  completed 
article. 

Government  assistance  has  been  furnished  liberally  to  manu- 
facturers of  electrical  machinery  abroad,  while  those  of  the  United 
States  have  had  no  such  assistance,  except  as  the  tariff  might  pro- 
tect the  home  market.  Great  Britain  has  its  Electrical  Standards 
Laboratory  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  being  a  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment, much  as  is  the  Agricultural  Bureau  in  the  United  States, 
and  it  aids  the  interests  of  English  electrical  manufacturers  in  nu- 
merous ways.  Very  similar  is  the  Central  Laboratory  of  France, 
where  many  experiments  are  carried  on  which  would  be  impossible 
or  at  least  impracticable  for  a  single  manufacturer.  Russia  also 
has  a  large  government  electrical  laboratory,  and  the  Physikalisch- 
Technische  Reichsanstalt  of  Germany  is  famous  for  its  electrical 
standards  of  measurement. 

Some  of  the  lesser-known  discoveries  in  connection  with  elec- 
tricity are  quite  as  marvellous  as  the  sending  of  messages  without 
wires  by  Hertzian  waves.  It  is  one  of  the  curious  things  about 
electricity  that  every  new  fact  we  learn  in  connection  with  it  seems 
at  first  sight  to  be  miraculous.  It  is  not  thus  with  improvements 
or  discoveries  in  pure  mechanics :  these  are  reasoned  out  and  seem 
natural ;  but  when  we  stumble  on  a  new  fact  in  the  electrical  field, 
it  often  fills  us  with  wonder  akin  to  awe. 

The  time  is  coming  when  we  shall  see  things  a  thousand  miles 
away  as  easily  as  we  now  telephone  from  New  York  to  Chicago. 
I  do  not  mean  that  we  shall  see  the  things  themselves  at  that  dis- 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE   LAST    DECADE  21 

tance  any  more  than  we  hear  the  real  voices  of  those  who  talk  to 
us  over  the  long-distance  telephone ;  but  we  shall  see  the  represen- 
tation of  what  exists  or  is  happening  at  the  other  end  of  the  line 
of  communication.  Already  the  way  is  pointed  out.  Some  years 
ago  Leon  le  Pontois  described  a  theoretical  apparatus  for  repro- 
ducing a  scene  by  electricity,  calling  it  a  telectroscope.  It  was  never 
worked  out,  but  showed  the  possibility  of  such  an  instrument.  A 
number  of  inventors  have  succeeded  in  reproducing  crude  portraits 
by  telegraphy,  though  these  have  never  been  good  enough  for  com- 
mercial reproduction  in  newspapers. 

Edison,  Dussard,  and  others  have  devoted  much  time  and 
thought  to  this  interesting  field  for  electricity;  but,  though  all  are 
in  agreement  that  telectroscopy  is  possible,  yet  none  has  hit  upon 
the  means  of  producing  it  in  practice.  One  of  the  methods  that  has 
been  studied,  and  which  may  yet  yield  a  practical  solution,  consists 
in  projecting  an  image  on  ground  glass  and  producing  reflections  in 
swinging  mirrors.  The  motion  of  the  mirrors  is  used  to  vary  the 
strength  of  electric  currents  sent  to  the  receiving  station,  where  is 
located  a  series  of  selenium  cells,  which,  being  affected  by  the  varying 
light  produced  by  the  varying  current,  may  theoretically  reproduce 
the  original  picture. 

'  The  uses  of  selenium  in  connection  with  electricity  constitute 
a  field  of  remarkable  interest.  Selenium  was  discovered  in  181 7  by 
J.  J.  Berzelius,  a  Swedish  chemist,  while  engaged  in  the  distillation 
of  sulphuric  acid  and  iron.  It  is  classed  as  a  non-metallic  element, 
and  in  a  common  form  is  a  lead-gray  crystalline  mass.  If  it  is  heated, 
the  resistance  diminishes,  but  when  it  is  melted  so  as  to  liquefy, 
the  resistance  suddenly  increases.  In  1873,  May,  a  telegraph  oper- 
ator of  Valencia,  discovered  that  in  the  crystalline  form  selenium 
has  less  resistance  when  exposed  to  the  light  than  in  the  dark,  and 
it  is  this  quality  that  has  been  employed  to  seciu-e  many  noteworthy 
results. 

The  selenium  cell,  which  is  used  in  many  interesting  instru- 
ments, consists  of  a  sheet  or  rod  of  selenium  and  one  of  copper 
included  in  an  electric  circuit,  which  when  exposed  to  the  light  pro- 
duces a  slight  variation  in  the  electric  current,  because  the  selenium 
has  become  a  poor  conductor  while  the  copper  has  remained  a  good 
one.  Another  and  the  more  common  form  of  selenium  cell  is  made 
by  winding  a  pair  of  conducting  wires  about  a  glass  tube.  Selenium 
powder  that  has  been  fused  is  then  crowded  between  the  spaces  of 
the  wires,  and  the  whole  baked  at  the  temperature  of  boiling-  water 
for  about  twelve  hours,  by  which  time  the  selenium  has  crystallized 


22  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

sufficiently  to  be  extremely  sensitive  to  the  action  of  light.  The 
selenium  cell  made  possible  that  wonderful  instrument  the  photo- 
phone,  which  is  a  telephone  using  a  beam  of  light,  instead  of  a  wire 
and  an  electric  current,  to  connect  the  transmitter  and  receiver.  In 
Professor  Bell's  photophone  a  vibrating  beam  of  light  is  allowed  to 
fall  oft  the  selenium  cell,  and  as  the  light  vibrates  an  electric  circuit  is 
varied,  affecting  a  telephone  receiver.  He  attached  a  little  silvered 
concave  mirror  to  the  back  of  a  telephone  transmitter,  and  allowed 
the  sunlight  (or  a  strong  electric  light)  to  fall  on  the  mirror.  By 
means  of  lenses  the  light  was  concentrated  in  a  small  beam  and 
directed  towards  the  receiving  instrument,  which  consisted  of  a 
selenium  cell  and  a  telephone  receiver  in  circuit  with  it,  a  current 
being  supplied  by  a  battery.  Thus  was  accomplished  the  wonderful 
result  of  using  a  ray  of  light  instead  of  wires  to  carry  the  human 
voice.  When  a  person  spoke  into  the  transmitter,  the  sound  vibra- 
tions caused  vibrations  of  the  ray  of  light,  and  these  vibrations  of 
light  acted  on  the  selenium  cell  at  the  receiver,  and  set  up  vibrating 
currents  that  caused  the  diaphragm  of  the  receiver  to  vibrate  just 
as  did  the  diaphragm  in  the  transmitter,  and  so  the  voice  was  re- 
peated just  as  when  the  vibration  was  caused  direct  by  the  electric 
current  carried  by  a  connecting  wire  in  the  ordinary  telephonic 
arrangement. 

The  photophone  proved  to  be  of  no  commercial  value,  and  has 
remained  a  scientific  toy,  but  it  has  been  improved  upon,  securing  a 
combination  which  utters  the  spoken  message  so  loud  that  it  can  be 
heard  throughout  a  large  room.  Instead  of  an  indirect  ray  of  light, 
there  is  introduced  the  "  speaking  arc,"  invented  by  Professor  Simon. 
This  speaking  arc  is  obtained  by  placing  a  strong  arc  light  in  circuit 
with  the  transmitter,  the  alternating  current  set  up  by  the  vibration 
of  the  voice  in  the  transmitter  being  imposed  on  the  direct  current  of 
the  arc  light,  and  the  vibrations  of  the  receiver  strengthened,  so  that 
it  speaks  loudly.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that,  while  the  current  making 
the  arc  light  is  being  varied  constantly  under  this  arrangement,  yet 
the  eye  detects  no  change  in  the  light,  though  the  promptness  with 
which  the  current  registers  the  changes  at  the  receiver  determines 
the  success  of  the  entire  system.  This  combination  of  photophone 
and  speaking  arc  might  be  employed  to  reproduce  a  lecture  or  speech 
in  some  hall  distant  from  where  the  speaker  was  located,  but  there 
seems  to  be  no  demand  for  anything  of  the  sort,  probably  because 
audiences  require  that  a  live  speaker  shall  face  them  and  impart  life 
and  fire  to  his  remarks  by  gesture  and  physical  animation. 

Turning  to  the  practical  side  of  the  selenium  cell  in  its  com- 


24  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

mercial  use,  we  find  it  employed  to  light  buoys  automatically  in 
harbors,  on  coasts,  etc.,  through  a  mechanism  invented  by  Herr 
Ruhmer.  Buoys  are  necessary  to  mark  a  channel  in  a  harbor,  keep- 
ing vessels  off  shoal  spots,  and  they  serve  a  purpose  akin  to  that  of 
a  light-house  on  a  rocky  or  irregular  coast.  To  be  of  use  at  night 
the:  buoys  must  bear  lights.  In  times  gone  by  the  work  of  lighting 
these  buoys  was  very  tedious,  requiring  a  boat  to  visit  them  regu- 
larly. Where  buoys  are  numerous,  as  in  New  York  harbor,  wire 
connections  for  electric  lighting  are  practicable ;  but  where  the  buoys 
are  at  considerable  distances,  the  selenium  device  has  been  a  great 
boon.  In  this  most  interesting  mechanism  the  darkness  itself  is 
utilized  to  light  the  gas-lamps  of  the  buoys. 

Such  buoys  are  usually  lighted  by  gas  under  pressure,  as  in  the 
Pintsch  light  commonly  used  on  railway  trains.  In  clear  weather 
such  a  light  is  visible  about  six  miles  away,  and  serves  to  warn 
vessels  off  a  point  where  a  light-house  is  impracticable.  Before 
the  selenium  device  came  into  use  each  light-tank  was  supplied  with 
as  much  gas  as  practicable,  and  it  was  allowed  to  burn  until  it  went 
out  or  an  attendant  came  along  and  replenished  the  gas.  With  the 
introduction  of  the  selenium  cell  for  automatically  shutting  off  the 
gas  during  the  hours  of  daylight,  the  time  that  the  gas  lasts  is 
doubled.  As  soon  as  the  dawning  day  brings  enough  light  to  act 
on  the  selenium  cell  of  a  buoy,  its  resistance  is  reduced  and  a  magnet 
brought  into  operation  that  closes  the  gas-valve;  and  at  nightfall, 
when  the  deepening  shades  increase  the  resistance,  the  current  is 
reduced,  and  by  means  of  a  relay  a  magnet  operates  in  the  other  direc- 
tion, opening  the  gas-valve.  The  light  may  either  be  turned  down 
low,  or  it  may  be  turned  out  altogether,  and  ignited  by  an  electric 
spark. 

A  burglar-alarm,  one  of  the  best  made,  owes  its  existence  to 
the  selenium  cell,  and  the  typical  dark  lantern  of  the  burglar  is  made 
his  undoing,  or  if  he  lights  the  gas  down-stairs,  when  he  imagines 
all  are  safely  asleep  above  him,  off  goes  a  big  gong  and  up  blazes 
every  other  gas-jet  in  the  house. 

The  selenium  cell  is  so  much  quicker  than  the  eye  in  noting  the 
action  of  light  that  it  has  been  employed  to  observe  an  eclipse  and 
make  a  record  of  light  changes  beyond  the  ability  of  the  eye  to  fol- 
low. Professor  Barnard,  of  the  Lick  Observatory,  in  California, 
has  employed  selenium  in  a  device  for  automatically  detecting 
comets,  the  theory  being  that  when  the  telescope  was  pointed  into 
a  field  where  there  was  a  comet,  the  increased  light  would  affect 
the  selenium  so  promptly  and  surely  as  to  be  manifest  electrically 
with  greater  ease  than  it  could  be  visually  at  the  eye-piece. 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE   LAST    DECADE  25 

A  method  of  ore-finding  by  electricity  has  met  with  some  suc- 
cess in  Cahfornia,  Alaska,  and  Wales.  It  was  devised  by  Leo  Draft 
and  Alfred  Williams,  and  with  it  they  have  snccessfully  located  and 
mapped  out  a  number  of  metalliferous  deposits  which  had  failed 
of  detection  in  any  other  way,  notably  a  lost  vein  of  a  lead-mine 
owned  by  H.  Gamman,  in  Wales.  The  system  consists  in  placing 
two  electrodes  in  the  ground  at  some  distance  apart,  these  being  con- 
nected with  an  apparatus  for  generating  electric  waves.  An  inter- 
rupter breaks  the  earth-connection  700  times  a  minute,  while  the 
breaks  are  heard  in  a  resonator.  The  prospector  shifts  his  earth- 
connections  from  place  to  place,  and  when  he  is  directly  over  a 
lode  of  metal  ore  the  noise  in  the  resonator  is  the  loudest.  The 
system  is  valuable  as  an  aid  to  the  prospector,  rather  than  as  a  sure 
thing  for  finding  valuable  deposits.  It  will  show  the  same  results 
for  an  iron  pipe  under  ground  as  for  an  ore  vein,  and  even  a  stratum 
of  wet  earth  or  a  subterranean  stream  may  produce  the  same  noises 
as  the  desired  vein.  Therefore  the  apparatus  requires  to  be  used 
by  competent  prospectors,  who  also  make  use  of  the  older  methods 
of  judging  where  deposits  are  likely  to  be  found. 

The  fact  that  the  telegraph  uses  an  alphabet  of  its  own,  which 
is  understandable  only  to  those  who  know  the  Morse  code  of  dots 
and  dashes,  has  led  to  many  endeavors  to  substitute  a  mechanical 
means  of  rendering  messages  in  ordinary  printed  characters.  Inven- 
tions having  this  object  in  view  are  called  printing  telegraphs,  and  a 
vast  number  of  patents  have  been  granted  for  such,  most  of  which 
have  failed  of  general  use  because  of  the  complexity  of  the  mechan- 
ism. A  few  simple  ones  have  been  developed,  however,  which  it  is 
of  interest  to  consider.  It  will  be  recognized  that  if  a  receiving- 
telegraph  instrument,  instead  of  punching  little  holes  in  a  paper 
tape,  registers  them  after  the  fashion  of  a  typewriter  on  a  neat 
sheet  of  paper,  many  advantages  accrue,  besides  the  one  of  allowing 
anybody  to  read  it  who  can  read  print.  It  avoids  the  chance  of 
clerical  error  in  copying  the  message  after  receipt,  and  it  permits 
numerous  copies  to  be  made  automatically,  all  of  which  must  be 
exact  copies  of  the  message  sent,  the  chance  fdr  error  being  confined 
to  the  individual  who  sends  the  message  originally. 

The  printing  telegraph  of  John  Burry,  of  New  York,  uses  two 
line  wires,  and  by  the  manipulation  of  a  keyboard  impulses  may  be 
sent  to  any  number  of  receiving  machines,  where  the  message  will 
be  automatically  printed  in  sheet  form  in  capital  letters.  (  See  illus- 
tration.) It  is  obvious  that  such  a  printing  telegraph  has  uses  far 
beyond  those  of  a  telegraph  company.     The  broker,  who  is  in  the 


26 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


habit  of  receiving-  numerous  telegrams  daily,  simply  installs  a  ma- 
chine in  his  office,  and  in  come  the  messages  ready  printed  in  the 
machine,  with  no  delay  for  delivery.  The  printing  wheel,  bearing 
the  rubber  type,  is  much  like  the  type-wheel  of  some  typewriters, 


SECTY.  SHfWfit  ON  piONEV  "■ ""^      *""■' 

NEWPORT  SP«5.W,SEa-t.SHMW  LAST  NISHT 
DI5C10JED  BH=ORE  1H£  JOINT  CONVENTION  OF 
THE  MnRYLflNO  4N0  01S.T»\CTOFCaUJnBlABSHK 
-eR5  ASSHi  ft  PIAN  THAT  WIU  PERHAPS  PRECL- 
Uoe  FDR  MflNl  ^EAfS,  THE  POSSWIUTf  op  ft 
MONBV  mmc  IF  -mE  PLAN  15  PUT  (n  OPEl^BIlON 

THE  aUBSTfWCE  OF  HlSVIE^nS  ISTHAT  THE 
BESiRXE^  HE.ID  BV  6KW1NIS INSTITUTI0N5  s«OUU> 

BEAVAISABLEfOSUSElNTiMESOFcneRGENO 

SStTY  SHAW  EXPRESStB  THE 0P1UI0NTHR1M 
I  rtRE  HPPROACHmijTHE  PSftriMaoFTHE  WiS.HE 
I  gfilCi  IT  PlIGHTBETHEPftCTOF  STfiTEaflWaHlP 


Burry's  I'rintitig  Telegraph. 


except  that  it  slides  sideways  along  the  rod  in  front  of  the  paper, 
while  the  paper  is  stationary,  except  when  reeled  up  a  space  for  a 
new  line.  Something  like  a  thousand  of  these  ingenious  little  print- 
ing telegraphs  have  been  placed  in  use.  The  mechanism  is  operated 
entirely  by  magnets,  so  that  the  user  has  only  to  connect  it  properly 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE    LAST    DECADE 


27 


with  an  electric  current,  and  to  keep  it  in  order  and  supplied  with 
paper,  to  enable  it  to  do  its  work  automatically. 

The  printing  telegraph  of  Professor  Henry  A.  Rowland,  of 
Baltimore,  consists  of  a  sender  having  keys  like  a  typewTiter,  on 
which  the  message  is  written.  An  alternating  current  of  constant 
frequency  is  passed  over  the  line  to  operate  synchronous  motors. 
The  different  characters  are  obtained  by  the  suppressing  of  various 
combinations  of  half  waves  of  the  current.  The  receiving  instrument 
has  a  type-wheel  that  prints  the  message  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  the 
wheel  rotating  continuously,  and  being  pressed  against  the  paper 


Murray's  Printm 


;raph. 


the  instant  the  desired  letter  is  over  the  printing  point.  Connected 
with  the  receiver  are  a  large  number  of  relays,  various  combinations 
of  which  operate  a  few  magnets  for  printing  the  characters.  Four 
messages  may  be  sent  at  one  time  in  each  direction  over  the  same 
wire,  making  a  total  of  eight  messages,  and  at  a  speed,  it  is  claimed, 
of  forty-five  words  per  minute.  This  remarkable  machine  is  not 
yet  ready  for  the  market,  recjuiring  considerable  simplifying-  before 
it  can  come  into  general  use. 

The  printing  telegraph  of  Donald  Murray  is  intended  for  long- 
distance work,  and  is  in  use  by  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company.  In 
this  interesting  and  simple  machine,  an  endless  tape,  punched  with 


28  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

holes  of  a  modified  Morse  code,  is  translated  mechanically  to  a 
typewriter  and  written  out,  the  attendant  simply  turning  a  crank  at 
the  side  of  the  typewriter,  which  operates  at  about  three  times  the 
speed  it  could  be  fingered.  In  the  illustration  the  typewriter  is  re- 
moved to  show  the  interlocking  mechanism  H,  by  which  the  per- 
forated characters  on  the  tape  are  made  to  strike  the  keys  of  the 
Roman  alphabet  on  the  typewriter.  The  turning  of  the  crank  on  the 
right  draws  the  tape  along  and  introduces  a  series  of  little  feelers 
to  the  holes  in  the  tape.  As  these  feelers  drop  in  they  occupy  a  posi- 
tion that  allows  the  proper  type-bar  of  the  typewriter  to  drop  and 
print  a  letter.  A  slight  electric  current  furnishes  power  for  depress- 
ing the  keys.  It  is  apparent  that  this  system  is  exceedingly  well 
adapted  to  taking  long  reports  for  the  Associated  Press,  or  any- 
thing that  is  lengthy.  By  using  carbons  in  the  typewriter  several 
copies  may  be  obtained  at  the  same  time,  and  each  will  read  exactly 
as  does  the  punched  paper  tape. 

A  recently  exploited  novelty  in  telegraphs  is  a  system  for  using 
slight  electrical  shocks  sent  in  the  Morse  code,  to  be  read  by  the 
finger-tips,  just  as  any  operator  might  now  read  a  message  if  his 
finger  took  the  place  of  a  key  in  receiving  the  "  tick,  tick"  of  the 
ordinary  telegraph  receiver.  It  was  originally  designed  for  the  use 
of  deaf  mutes  and  blind  mutes,  but  it  is  apparent  that  it  might  be 
applied  to  many  other  uses.  Two  persons  can  walk  along  the  street 
w^ith  instruments  in  their  pockets  and  carry  on  a  conversation  that 
would  be  entirely  unsuspected  by  any  onlooker.  In  the  same  way 
at  night,  from  different  rooms,  with  a  connecting  wure,  they  could 
talk  without  being  overheard  or  disturbing  any  one  else,  or  even 
getting  out  of  bed.  The  sensation  is  received  b}^  means  of  thimbles 
made  like  open-end  sewing  thimbles  and  placed  one  on  the  thumb 
and  one  on  the  forefinger.  To  send  a  message  one  person  brings 
his  finger  and  thumb  together,  making  the  dots  and  dashes  of  the 
Morse  code,  and  the  other  person  reads  the  message  by  feeling, 
without  any  effort.  The  thing  is  so  simple  and  requires  so  little  ap- 
paratus, that  it  should  find  considerable  use.  A  very  slight  battery 
and  connecting  wires  are  all  the  mechanism  needed.  Any  one  having 
an  electric  door-bell  in  the  house  can  steal  a  little  of  the  current,  and 
rig  up  the  apparatus  for  use  as  wanted. 

Electric  signs  have  attained  a  high  state  of  development,  and 
in  every  large  city  may  now  be  seen  nightly  signs  that  are  changed 
in  the  reading  every  moment  by  electrical  mechanism.  One  of  the 
machines  for  accomplishing  this  result  is  the  electric  light  and  sign 
flasher  here  illustrated.     This  can  be  used  to  operate  a  variety  of 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE   LAST    DECADE  29 

signs,  as  the  waving  flag,  rotating  wheels,  etc..  these  being  electric 
optical  delusions  operated  automatically.  In  one  form  of  machine 
a  man  with  a  typewriter  is  in  control,  and  the  sign  displays  whatever 
he  writes  on  the  machine,  up  to  the  limit  of  the  number  of  words 
it  carries. 


Courtesy  Electric  Motor  and  Equipment  Company. 

Electric  Sign  Flasher. 

Electricity  is  undoubtedly  gaining  ground  in  therapeutics. 
While  the  physician  no  longer  attempts  to  cure  patients  of  all  sorts 
of  ills  by  having  them  take  a  current  from  a  battery,  it  has  come  to 
be  recognized  that  certain  things  can  be  accomplished.  The  value 
of  the  electric  cautery  was  demonstrated  many  years  ago,  and  there 
is  a  long  list  of  instruments  in  which  the  electric  light  coupled  with 
a  speculum  enables  the  physician  actually  to  see  the  condition  of 
interior  membranes  in  his  patients.  The  circulation  in  a  particular 
part  of  the  body  can  be  stimulated  by  the  electric  current,  and  the 
heart's  action  can  be  affected.  Electrical  anaesthesia  has  also  been 
applied  superficially  for  dental  operations,  and  a  French  surgeon 
has  succeeded  in  producing  insensibility  to  pain  in  a  patient  during 
a  very  trying  operation  by  subjecting  him  to  the  action  of  currents 
of  high  frequency  during  the  whole  course  of  the  operation. 

A  French  physicist,  M.  Leduc.  produces  local  anaesthesia  and 
also  sleep  by  a  continuous  current  from  an  accumulator,  placing  a 
small  resistance  in  the  circuit.  If  this  current  is  applied  to  the  wrist, 
there  is  a  prickling  sensation,  but  no  feeling  otherwise.  If  applied 
to  the  head  and  the  buttocks,  respiration  is  at  first  stopped,  and  on 
reducing  the  current  the  breathing  is  resumed,  the  patient  remaining 
asleep  with  what  appears  a  natural  and  tranquil  repose.    As  insomnia 


30 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


is  a  result  of  disturbance  of  the  nerve-centres,  it  is  reasonable  to 
conclude  that  this  method  of  quieting  the  nerves  may  prove  to  be 
the  practical  cure  for  this  trying  affliction.  The  drawback  to  the 
introduction  of  the  system  lies  in  the  fact  that  v^hen  the  current  is 
first  applied  the  immediate  result  is  to  produce  apparent  death,  from 
which  the  patient  has  to  be  resuscitated.  Physicians  will  want  to 
feel  very  sure  of  their  ability  to  bring  patients  back  to  a  normal 
condition  on  short  notice  before  they  will  adopt  this  method  of  treat- 
ing insomnia. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  note  the  latest  form  of  X-ray 
apparatus  and  of  fluoroscope.  These  are  well  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying illustration. 

Electric  heating  has  made  considerable  progress  because  of  its 
convenience,  though  it  is  vastly  more  expensive  than  heating  with 
coal.  Still,  when  the  coal  gives  out,  the  human  race  may  be  very 
glad  that  it  has  in  every  waterfall  a  power  that  may  be  transformed 
into  electricity  and  thus  into  heat.  Electric  cooking  is  not  so  expen- 
sive in  a  small  household,  where  its  use  is  intermittent,  and  the  few 
cents  of  extra  cost  are  offset  in  hot  weather  by  the  fact  that  very 
little  heat  is  sent  out  into  the  room.  As  a  plate-warmer,  or  con- 
venience for  supplying  a  little  hot  water  when  wanted,  or  heating  a 
hair-curler  at  a  lady's  dressing-table,  the  electric  heater  is  in  some 
demand.  In  laundries  it  also  has  some  sale,  as  it  saves  times  and 
can  be  turned  off  to  stop  expense  when  not  in  use.  A  theatre  can 
be  heated  electrically  with  a  heater  under  every  chair  in  a  manner 
agreeable  to  the  patrons,  as  the  heat  comes  where  wanted,  and  can 
be  shut  off  by  the  occupant  of  the  chair  if  he  or  she  is  too  warm. 

The  Electrical  Rcviczv  estimated  in  October,  1902,  that  there 
were  at  least  150,000  electric  car-heaters  in  use,  50,000  heating- 
irons,  and  5000  chafing-dishes.  The  United  States  census  gives 
the  sales  during  19O0  of  electric  heating  and  cooking  apparatus, 
including  the  rheostats,  at  $1,186,000,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it 
is  now  (1904)  at  least  a  million  and  a  half  a  year.  A  single  New 
Jersey  hat-factory  uses  250  horse-power  for  electric  heating  appa- 
ratus, which  is  found  specially  useful  in  that  business.  Whenever 
the  power-furnishing  companies  choose  to  make  a  specialty  of  sell- 
ing current  for  this  purpose  at  a  price  that  consumers  can  afford  to 
pay,  the  use  will  increase  very  rapidly.  That  they  have  not  done 
so  is  perhaps  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  trolley  companies  have  had 
such  rapidly  increasing  demands  from  traffic  that  they  cared  not  to 
go  into  another  field,  while  the  electric-light  plants  are  too  often  con- 
trolled by  gas  corporations  that  prefer  to  sell  gas  for  heating. 


The  X-Ray  and   f  liKJicscope  in  Suri^cry. 

I,  Induction  coil ;  P,  primary  current ;  S,  secondary  current ;  C,  Crookes  tube  set  at  correct  angle  ;  F, 

Edison's  fluoroscope ;  X,  point  in  the  tube  from  which  the  hemisphere  of  X-ray  activity  radiates. 


32 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  principle  of  an  electric  heater  is  simply  the  use  of  a  metal 
offering  sufficient  resistance  to  a  current  of  electricity  to  be  readily 
heated  when  a  current  is  turned  through  it.  This  metal  is  sur- 
rounded by  some  non-inflammable  conductor  of  heat,  as  porcelain 
or  asbestos.  In  a  well-known  type  a  metallic  paint  is  fired  upon 
mica  strips,  which  are  formed  into  groups  or  sets,  so  that  a  heater 
can  be  built  of  any  size  by  adding  more  sets.  For  heating  an  electric 
car  either  four  or  six  sets  of  conducting  wires  coiled  around  porce- 
lain tubes  are  commonly  used,  the  current  being  taken  along  with 
the  motor-current  from  the  trolley  wire  or  other  source,  which  is 
unfortunate  for  the  passengers  at  times,  for  when  the  power  is  short 
the  heat  is  ruthlessly  shut  off.  The  average  cost  of  heating  electric 
cars  by  electricity  is  perhaps  seventy-five  cents  per  day  of  eighteen 
hours,  and  the  temperature  of  a  car  may  be  raised  in  this  manner 
about  40°  F.  above  that  prevailing  outside,  in  spite  of  the  constantly 
open  doors. 

Early  in  1902  there  was  a  public  exhibition  in  Milwaukee  of 
an  invention  for  using  the  electric  arc  for  cutting  steel.  An  enor- 
mous boiler  foundation,  made  in  one  piece  of  metal,  had  to  be 
removed  from  the  basement  of  a  building,  where  it  had  been  put 
at  the  time  the  basement  was  built.  It  was  so  heavy  that  local 
mechanics  despaired  of  being  able  to  cut  it  in  order  to  get  it  out. 
The  inventor  of  the  process  of  using  the  arc  for  steel-cutting  M^as 
called  in,  put  on  a  pair  of  blue  spectacles,  connected  his  apparatus 
with  a  strong  current,  and  touched  the  steel  plate  with  his  carbon 
point.  A  strong  white  light  and  brilliant  flame  sprang  up,  and  the 
steel  was  cut,  or  more  correctly  burned,  awav,  at  the  rate  of  a  foot 
in  five  minutes,  so  that  within  a  short  time  the  whole  plate  was 
divided  into  blocks  that  could  be  transported  away.  Whether  the 
invention  will  find  many  practical  uses  remains  an  open  question. 
So  far  it  has  served  principally  to  alarm  bankers  as  to  the  efficiency 
of  their  great  safes  if  attacked  by  an  up-to-date  electrician. 

Electric  track-welding  has  become  an  important  business,  and 
the  methods  employed  have  shown  much  improvement  within  recent 
years.  Rail- joints  are  welded  together  just  as  they  lie  on  the  ties, 
a  welding-train  of  two  cars  doing  the  work.  The  result  is  a  practi- 
cally continuous  rail  that  makes  riding  less  jolty  for  passengers  and 
also  prevents  the  ends  of  rails  from  wearing  out  by  the  pounding 
of  the  car-wheels,  as  is  the  case  where  the  joints  are  slightly  open. 
An  improved  process  of  doing  the  work  was  introduced  in  1897 
and  another  in  1901.  The  latest  outfit  is  mounted  on  trolley-cars 
of  special  design  having  axles  that  may  be  adapted  to  different 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE   LAST    DECADE 


33 


widths  of  track.  The  first  operation  is  sand-blasting,  to  free  the 
rail-ends  from  dust  and  dirt.  An  apparatus  that  resembles  an 
enormous  horseshoe  is  projected  from  in  front  of  the  forward 
trolley-car,  being  suspended  by  a  crane.  This  is  the  welder,  and  its 
ends  are  placed  on  either  side  of  the  rail  at  the  joint.  Thin  strips 
of  steel  having  been  placed  at  the  sides  of  the  joint,  the  current 
is  turned  on,  and  the  metal  at  the  joint  soon  rises  to  a  welding  heat. 
Then  the  current  is  shut  off,  and  the  hydraulic  jaws  produce  a  great 
pressure,  as  much  as  thirty-seven  tons,  on  the  joint.  This  com- 
pletes the  weld  very  quickly.     The  current  used  approximates  from 


Electric  Track-Welding  Machine. 


25,000  to  30,000  amperes  at  seven  volts.  The  supply  at  the  welder 
is  regulated  at  about  300  volts.  After  welding,  a  grinding  device 
is  employed,  in  order  to  reduce  the  slight  bulge  which  is  produced 
purposely.  This  grinding  is  done  with  an  emery-wheel  under  the 
guidance  of  a  man  on  the  car.  With  this  apparatus  a  line  of  track 
is  welded  in  a  comparatively  short  time  at  moderate  expense. 

Electric  trains  are  now  run  that  emulate  the  European  trains 
de  luxe,  as  they  call  a  string  of  Pullmans.  One  of  these  elegantly 
furnished  electric  parlor-cars  is  shown  on  p.  36,  being  arranged  for 
summer  travel.     Within  a  few  years  it  is  probable  that  the  more 

3 


34 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


prominent  lines  of  electric  cars  running  to  seaside  resorts  will  run 
these  parlor-cars  occasionally,  charging  a  higher  rate  of  fare,  thus 
enabling  those  who  have  the  spare  cash  to  ride  in  comfort  and  escape 
the  crowd. 

Although  the  electro-magnet  is  one  of  the  commonest  parts  of 
electrical  machinery,  yet  the  magnet  for  holding  or  lifting  purposes 
has  been  employed  but  little.  There  is  first  the  toy  magnet  which 
is  used  for  drawing  pieces  of  steel  out  of  the  eye.    Then  the  magnetic 


Electro  Magnet  for  Lifting  Pig-iron. 

clutch,  for  holding  a  piece  of  work  to  the  bed  of  a  machinist's  drill 
or  planer,  and  Edison's  large  electro-magnets  for  separating  the  iron 
from  crushed  ore.  There  are  also  little  magnets  that  pick  up  the 
tacks  or  brads  for  the  machines  that  make  gift-boxes  for  berries, 
and  tremendous  electro-magnets  in  steel  works,  that  are  attached  to 
cranes,  and  that  will  pick  up  ten-  or  twelve-ton  pieces  of  metal,  by 
magnetism  alone,  to  transport  them  to  some  other  point,  saving  the 
time  that  would  be  lost  in  fastening  them  with  hooks  and  chains  and 
releasing  them  again. 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE   LAST    DECADE 


35 


It  is  well  known  that  a  great  deal  of  electrical  work  is  done 
with  the  alternating  current  and  other  work  with  the  direct  current, 
and  that  it  is  often  necessary  for  electricians  to  convert  one  sort 
of  current  into  the  other  for  some  specific  use.  For  this  purpose  a 
converter  is  employed,  being  a  rather  massive  machine,  one  rated 
at  eight  kilowatts  weighing  about  750  pounds.  Early  in  1903  Petet 
C.  Hewitt  announced  that  he  had  succeeded  in  making  a  very  sim- 


Courtesy  Literary  Digest. 

A  Selective  Converter. 


pie  "  selective  converter,"  and  that  one  of  four  pounds'  weight 
would  do  the  work  of  the  750-pound  converter.  His  device  is  a 
globe  that  somewhat  resembles  a  Crookes  tube,  as  used  in  X-ray 
apparatus.  He  fills  the  glass  globe  with  mercury  vapor  of  a  certain 
degree  of  attenuation,  and  admits  the  terminal  wires  of  the  various 
currents  into  the  globe.  The  theory  of  its  operation  is  that,  ''  when 
an  alternating  current  is  caused  to  jump  through  a  space  filled  with 
mercury  vapor  of  a  certain  degree  of  attenuation,  it  presents  a  ready 


36 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


passage  to  certain  portions  of  the  wave,  whereas  other  portions  of 
the  wave  are  damped  back,  or  form  a  selective  electric  valve,  which 
allows  impressed  electromotive  force  of  a  certain  character  only  to 
flow  through  the  apparatus." 

This  remarkable  invention  cuts  away  the  barrier  separating  the 
alternating  and  direct-current  fields,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
important  mechanical  improvements  in  electric  apparatus  of  the  open- 
ing years  of  the  century. 

A  Russian  engineer,  Nicholas  Gherassimoff,  has  invented  a 
novel  electrical  means  of  protecting  vessels  at  sea  from  collisions  with 


Electric  Parlor-Car  Interior. 


other  vessels  or  with  derelicts  or  with  shoals.  His  idea  is  to  provide 
electrically  propelled  bodies,  which  he  calls  feelers,  moving  in  ad- 
vance of  the  vessel  at  the  same  rate  of  speed,  and  far  enough  under 
water  to  protect  the  hull  of  the  ship.  He  provides  three  feelers, 
one  in  line  with  the  keel  and  the  others  at  some  distance  to  the 
right  and  left.  The  feelers  are  controlled  by  three  electric  cables, 
which  have  a  junction  point  connected  with  an  indicating  apparatus 
on  the  vessel.  This  indicator  shows  when  a  feeler  is  thrown  out 
of  its  natural  course,  which  is  a  sign  of  danger.  There  are  also 
little  light-buoys  sailing  over  each  of  the  feelers,   so  that  under 


ELECTRICAL    MARVELS    OF    THE    LAST    DECADE  37 

favorable  conditions  it  can  be  seen  whether  they  are  performing  their 
work  in  proper  position. 

The  telegraphone  is  a  much-advertised  electrical  instrument 
that  has  so  far  failed  of  commercial  success,  though  it  does  seem 
as  if  it  ought  to  be  very  valuable.  It  was  invented  a  few  years  ago 
by  a  Dane  named  Poulson,  and  was  exhibited  at  Paris  in  1900. 
It  is  a  magnetic  phonograph,  and  has  a  long  hardened  steel  wire  that 
is  passed  quickly  near  the  magnet  of  a  telephone  receiver,  with 
wonderful  results.  The  wire  appears  to  acquire  in  the  form  of  per- 
manent magnetism  all  the  vibrations  that  occurred  in  the  receiver 
at  the  time  it  was  exposed,  and  when  the  wire  is  passed  under  cer- 
tain small  bits  of  iron  attached  to  a  diaphragm,  the  sounds  from 
the  telephone  are  reproduced,  just  as  they  would  be  in  a  phonograph, 
with  the  improvement  that  they  are  rid  of  that  scratching  noise 
which  is  so  trying  to  the  ears  of  most  people. 

Electric  haulage  in  canals,  though  abandoned  after  an  imperfect 
trial  on  the  Erie  Canal,  is  a  success  in  Belgium.  It  doubles  the  speed 
of  haulage  without  increasing  the  cost.  Electric  automobiles  are 
used  to  draw  the  canal  boats,  just  as  did  the  mules  before  them. 
These  autos  are  only  about  five  horse-power,  and  cost  little.  When 
two  of  them  meet  on  the  tow-path,  they  swap  boats.  Where  the 
canals  are  deep  enough  an  electric  tug  is  run,  drawing  its  power  from 
an  overhead  wire  by  a  trolley-pole.  These  make  a  speed  of  about 
eight  miles  an  hour  with  their  tows. 

The  Miami  and  Erie  Canal  Transportation  Company  has  a 
thirty-five-year  franchise  to  operate  an  electric  towing  system  be- 
tween Cincinnati  and  Toledo,  a  distance  of  244  miles.  At  present 
forty-two  miles  are  in  operation.  The  company  owns  seven  West- 
inghouse-Baldwin  electric  locomotives  of  the  mining  type  and  twenty 
boats  with  a  capacity  of  sixty-five  tons  each.  The  track  is  standard 
gauge,  and  one  locomotive  can  tow  six  boats  at  a  time  at  a  rate 
of  four  miles  per  hour,  this  being  the  maximum  allowable  speed 
on  account  of  excessive  wash  on  the  canal  banks. 

Power  is  transmitted  from  Cincinnati  by  three-phase,  sixty- 
cycle,  4200-volt,  alternating  current  to  a  sub-station  five  miles  out 
of  the  city.  Here,  by  means  of  transformers  and  a  synchronous 
motor-generator  set,  it  is  transformed  to  33,000  volts  and  twenty- 
five  cycles  and  transmitted  to  other  sub-stations  twelve  miles  apart 
along  the  line,  where  the  voltage  is  reduced  to  11 70  and  at  this 
pressure  fed  to  the  trolley-wires.  The  high-pressure  transmission 
cables  are  of  aluminum,  but  the  trolley-wires,  two  in  number,  are 
copper.    The  locomotives  are  equipped  with  two  eighty  horse-power. 


38  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

three-phase  induction  motors,  the  first  of  this  kind  to  be  used  for 
traction  purposes  in  this  country. 

But  this  chapter  grows  too  long.  The  writer  recognizes  that 
this  is  but  a  very  cursory  and  superficial  summing  up  of  the  advances 
made  in  recent  years  in  electrical  science  and  industry.  The  subject 
is  large  enough  for  ten  volumes  instead  of  one  short  chapter,  and 
it  has  been  thought  best  to  describe  some  of  the  most  interesting 
points  rather  than  to  attempt  a  dry  catalogue  of  all  the  improvements 
undertaken  and  discoveries  made.  No  industry  stands  still,  and  least 
of  all  the  electric  industry,  which  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  is  dividing 
into  numerous  industries,  with  the  promise  in  time  of  invading  a 
large  number  of  fields  as  yet  untouched  by  its  magic  influence.  Ver- 
ily, this  is  the  age  of  electricity. 


ELECTRICITY    FOR   THE    MILLION 

Some  one  has  said  that  "  electricity  makes  the  world  go  round," 
and,  while  this  may  not  be  literally  true,  in  a  figurative  sense  the 
facts  go  far  to  back  up  the  assertion.  The  progress  made  in  a 
dozen  years  in  electrical  industries  is  really  marvellous,  while  the 
magic  force  has  intruded  itself  so  insidiously  into  our  daily  lives 
that  we  are  apt  not  to  appreciate  how  completely  it  has  imbued 
almost  everything  we  touch  and  do. 

In  this  chapter  let  us  consider  electricity  as  it  enters  into  and 
surrounds  us  in  our  daily  lives.  I  use  the  word  electricity  here  in 
the  broad  sense  of  all  things  that  depend  upon  or  utilize  this  potent 
agent.  A  few  statistics  will  assist  us  at  the  outset.  In  1900  there 
were  580  establishments  in  the  country  manufacturing  electrical 
apparatus  and  supplies,  and  712  more  that  were  partially  engaged 
in  this  business,  the  number  being  three  times  as  great  as  in  1890. 
In  this  year  of  1904  the  number  has  probably  gained  fifty  to  sixty 
per  cent.,  so  that  it  is  within  bounds  to  assert  that  there  are  nearly 
2000  establishments  in  the  United  States  more  or  less  devoted  to 
the  manufacture  of  these  supplies.  The  product  of  these  establish- 
ments, estimated  in  the  same  way,  amounts  to  $150,000,000  a  year. 
When  it  is  understood  that  these  figures  are  exclusive  of  the  tele- 
graph, telephone,  electric-railway,  and  electric-lighting  industries, 
which  are  treated  of  in  other  chapters,  it  is  very  apparent  that  some- 
thing is  doing  in  the  smaller  fields  of  electrical  industry. 

In  the  census  year  of  1900  over  $10,500,000  wonth  of  dynamo- 
electric  generators  were  in  use  In  the  United  States,  furnishing  a 
total  horse-power  of  770,000.  To  this  figure  we  must  add  $24,- 
000,000  worth  of  electric  motors,  of  which  $14,000,000  were  for 
direct  current  and  $10,000,000  for  alternating  current,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  above  being  used  for  automobiles,  fans,  elevators,  etc. 

Just  here  the  non-technical  reader  may  wish  to  gain  a  clearer 
idea  of  the  construction  of  a  dynamo  and  a  motor.  The  dynamo 
IS  a  mechanically-driven  machine,  for  which  a  water-wheel  or  more 
commonly  a  steam-engine  furnishes  the  power.  It  has  an  armature 
(i),  or  core  of  iron  wound  with  copper  wires,  and  when  this  arma- 
ture is  rotated  by  a  steam-engine  close  to  the  poles  of  an  electro- 
magnet a  current  is  set  up.  By  fixing  on  the  same  axle  or  shaft  (3) 
as  the  armature  a  commutator   (2),  or  device  for  rectifying  the 

39 


40 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


current,  and  allowing  copper  brushes  to  rest  lightly  on  this  rotating 
commutator,  and  connecting  wires  with  the  brushes,  a  direct  current 
may  be  led  off,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  energy  received  from 
the  steam-engine  may  be  delivered  to  a  motor  at  a  distant  point, 
or  to  a  light-circuit,  or  to  heating  apparatus,  or  applied  to  any  pur- 
pose for  which  the  current  is  useful.  An  electric  motor  is  simply 
a  dynamo  reversed  in  action.  The  current,  coming  in  on  two  wires 
to  the  commutator,  causes  the  rotation  of  the  armature,  and  this 
drives  a  pulley,  from  which  the  power  may  be  taken  by  a  blet. 

Such   are   roughly   the   general   principles   of   a   dynamo   and 
motor,  omitting  the  detail.     In  practice,  dynamos  are  differentiated 


The  Parts  of  a  Dynamo. 


from  motors,  and  a  great  many  details  of  construction  are  intro- 
duced to  secure  certain  results.  If  the  electro-magnet,  or  field- 
magnet,  as  it  is  more  commonly  called  in  this  usage,  has  only  two 
poles,  the  machine  is  said  to  be  bipolar ;  if  more  than  two,  it  is  multi- 
polar. Whether  or  not  the  machine  has  a  commutator  determines 
whether  it  shall  send  out  a  direct  or  an  alternating  current,  the 
latter  being  a  current  which  is  turned  in  one  direction  and  then  in 
the  opposite,  alternating  commonly  at  the  rate  of  7200  times  a 
minute,  while  the  direct  current  flows  always  in  one  direction. 

A  simple  alternating  current  does  very  well  for  transmission 
purposes  and  for  electric  lights,  but  for  motors,  except  in  very  small 
sizes,  a  polyphase  current  must  be  used.     An  alternating  current 


ELECTRICITY    FOR    THE    MILLION 


41 


generator  can  be  so  constructed  that  it  will  generate  two  or  more 
currents  alternating  at  the  same  rate,  but  not  at  the  same  time. 
That  is,  one  current  will  just  be  stopping  and  changing  its  direction 
when  the  other  current  is  flowing  with  full  force;  the  next  instant 
of  time  the  first  current  will  come  up  to  its  full  value  and  the  second 
current  will  stop  and  reverse.  Two  or  three  currents  alternating 
in  this  way  can  be  combined  and  transmitted  to  a  distance  on  three 
wires  and  the  combination  is  called  a  two-,  three-,  or  in  general  a 
polyphase  current.  When  such  a  polyphase  current  is  applied  to  an 
alternating  current  motor,  called  an  induction  motor,  it  produces  a 
uniform  rotation  of  the  armature,  much  in  the  same  way  that  in 
a  marine  engine  a  uniform  rotation  of  the  shaft  is  produced  by 
having  the  cranks  connected  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  or  120 
degrees  apart  in  case  there  are  three  cranks. 

In  the  case  of  the  motor,  one  current  is  doing  its  maximum 
work  while  the  other  is  going  through  the  zero  point,  exactly  as 
in  the  engine,  one  crank  is  doing  its  maximum  work  while  the  other 
is  at  its  dead-centre  and  doing  nothing.  An  induction  motor  oper- 
ated on  a  single-phase  current  will  run  after  once  being  started,  but, 
like  a  single-crank  engine  on  dead-centre,  will  not  start  of  itself. 

Only  twelve  per  cent,  of  the  dynamos  made  are  alternating- 
current,  but  the  size  and  power  of  the  alternating-current  dynamos 
are  so  much  greater  on  the  average  that  forty-five  per  cent,  of  the 
total  horse-power  of  dynamos  built  in  the  census  year  were  of  this 
type.  A  peculiarity  of  the  alternating  current  is  that,  by  the  use 
of  transformers  for  raising  and  lowering  its  pressure,  it  can  be 
delivered  at  very  considerable  distances  at  slight  loss,  whereas  the 
direct  current  is  limited  in  quantity,  pressure,  and  distance. 

The  alternating-current  dynamo  tends  to  grow  larger  and  larger. 
Thomas  C.  Martin,  expert  special  agent  of  the  Census  Bureau,  cal- 
culated that  the  average  dynamos  of  this  sort  manufactured  in  1900 
were  of  254  horse-power,  but  he  states  that  they  are  growing  so 
fast  that  this  really  appears  a  minimum  figure.  Thousand  horse- 
power dynamos  are  becoming  common,  and  even  the  great  5000 
horse-power  dynamos  at  Niagara  Falls  have  become  too  small  for 
their  needs,  and  the  latest  dynamos  going  in  there  are  of  10,000 
horse-power.  In  these  machines  the  current  is  generated  at  a  poten- 
tial of  12,000  volts,  which  dispenses  with  transformers  for  raising 
the  voltage.  The  cost  of  building  these  enormous  dynamos  is  seven 
dollars  per  horse-power,  which  is  about  half  the  cost  of  building 
the  average  dynamo. 

Curiously  enough,  the  development  of  the  dynamo  seems  to 


42 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


have  affected  the  business  methods  as  weH  as  the  mechanical  Unes 
along  which  electric  lighting  and  power  have  developed.  The  first 
companies  in  the  electric  field  were  those  that  took  a  comparatively 


\     fr. 


K'p'i 


'/ 


Cutting  Wheel-Pit  for  Shafts  of  the  Great  Dynamos  at  Niagara  Falls. 


small  territory  and  undertook  to  introduce  arc  lighting,  incandescent 
lighting,  or  a  trolley  railway,  each  enterprise,  as  a  rule,  being  sepa- 
rate. The  two  kinds  of  light  were  first  rivals,  then  they  tended  to 
grow  together,  and  now  there  is  a  tendency  for  companies  to  furnish 


ELECTRICITY    FOR    THE    MILLION  43 

both  electric  light  and  power  to  customers  for  any  use,  this  some- 
times including  power  for  operating  a  street  railway. 

The  fact  that  the  alternating  current  could  be  sent  to  greater 
distances  than  the  direct,  led  to  expansion  of  territory  by  the  users 
of  alternating-current  dynamos,  until  practically  all  companies  have 
settled  down  to  the  same  general  basis  of  operations,  generating 
current  with  alternators  of  the  polyphase  type  at  large  central  sta- 
tions, and  transmitting  it  at  high-pressure  to  sub-stations,  where  it 
can  be  sent  out  under  lower  pressure  as  either  direct  or  alternating 
current  or  used  to  charge  batteries  for  storage.  This  method  has 
proved  best  for  railways,  for  lighting,  and  for  general  power  pur- 
poses, and  business  conditions  are  adjusting  themselves  to  it.  Direct- 
current  dynamos  are  not  increasing  rapidly  in  use,  and  are  employed 


A  Three-Unit  Balancino-  Transformer. 


mainly  in  isolated  plants,  where  there  is  not  likely  to  be  any  demand 
for  serving  current  to  others. 

It  is  apparent  from  the  foregoing  that  the  transformer  plays  an 
important  part  in  modern  electrical  equipment.  The  transformer 
is  a  sort  of  modern  form  of  the  induction  coil,  with  which  students 
of  electricity  were  familiar  twenty  years  ago.  Its  essential  parts  are 
a  core  of  laminated  sheet-iron  wound  with  two  coils  of  copper  wire, 
one  coil  consisting  of  a  great  many  turns  of  fine  wire,  and  the  other 
of  a  few  turns  of  coarse  wire.  If  the  fine  wire  coil  is  connected  to 
the  line  a  current  at  a  much  lower  pressure  can  be  drawn  from  the 
other  coil,  or  secondary,  as  it  is  called.  If  the  connections  are  re- 
versed and  the  fine  wire  coil  used  for  the  secondary,  a  current  at  a 
greatly  increased  pressure  is  generated.     Thus  the  transformer  can 


44  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

be  used  either  to  "  step  up"  or  "  step  down"  the  pressure,  and  the 
ratio  of  transformation  depends  upon  the  ratio  of  the  number  of 
turns  in  the  two  coils.  If,  for  instance,  we  have  a  iioo-volt  current 
we  wish  to  use  for  incandescent  lamps  at  no  volts,  we  simply  use 
a  transformer  having  a  primary  coil  of  500  turns  and  a  secondary 
coil  of  fifty  turns. 

In  1890  transformers  were  able  to  furnish  current  to  only  a  few 
lights,  because  of  their  small  capacity.  Then  their  average  capacity 
was  from  eighteen  to  twenty  amperes,  or  sufficient  for  perhaps  forty 
lights ;  now  they  average  about  twelve  horse-power,  with  a  capacity 
of  perhaps  one  hundred  and  fifty  lights.  Some  of  the  largest  trans- 
formers in  the  world  are  those  installed  at  the  Niagara  power  plant, 
these  being  3000  horse-power  each. 

The  electric  motor  is  not  so  new  a  thing  as  many  believe.  It 
was  used  for  propelling  boats  and  cars  in  1830,  receiving  current 
from  a  battery.  But,  as  the  primary  batteries  of  that  day  were 
expensive  and  non-commercial,  there  was  really  no  use  for  a  motor. 
It  was  the  discovery  of  the  fact  that  a  reversed  motor  became  a 
dynamo,  and  the  perfecting  of  the  dynamo,  that  made  the  present 
system  of  power  transmission  by  electricity  practical.  Very  satis- 
factory electric  motors  were  show^n  at  the  Philadelphia  electrical 
exhibition  in  1884,  but  they  made  such  slow  progress  that  in  1890 
there  were  in  use  in  New  York  City  only  360  small  motors,  of  a 
total  of  310  horse-power,  and  only  4.4  per  cent,  of  the  manufacturing 
power  used  in  the  country  was  electrical.  After  1890  the  demand 
for  motors  came  with  a  rush,  and  the  census  returns  for  1900  show 
that  their  use  increased  1897  per  cent,  in  the  decade.  The  census 
records  the  railways  as  using  in  1900  motors  to  the  amount  of 
666,669  horse-power,  automobiles  8220,  fans  12,766,  and  elevators 
6730.  The  longest  distance  to  which  power  is  transmitted  to  drive 
motors  is  220  miles,  from  the  Sierras  to  San  Francisco. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  widely  used  of  all  electrical  de- 
vices is  the  battery.  There  are  two  kinds  of  electric  battery,  the 
primary  and  the  secondary  or  storage  battery.  The  former,  which 
we  see  used  for  telephones,  electric  bells,  annunciators,  gas  engine 
igniters  for  automobiles,  and  countless  other  things  which  require 
only  a  small  amount  of  power,  consists  usually  of  two  plates,  one  of 
zinc  and  the  other  of  carbon,  immersed  in  a  solution  of  sal-ammo- 
niac, the  whole  being  contained  in  a  jar.  For  the  sake  of  convenience 
and  portability,  the  solution  is  commonly  mixed  with  plaster  of 
Paris,  making  a  pasty  mass ;  the  whole  cell  is  sealed  air-tight,  and 
we  have  the  ordinary  dry  battery. 


ELECTRICITY    FOR    THE    MILLION  45 

For  furnishing  large  quantities  of  electric  power  primary  bat- 
teries are  inadequate;  so  in  electric-light  or  railway-power  stations 
storage  batteries  are  used.  The  first  storage  battery  of  importance 
was  the  Plante,  made  in  i860,  and  having  lead  plates  immersed  in  a 
ten  per  cent,  solution  of  sulphuric  acid.  Faure  improved  the  storage 
battery  greatly  about  1880,  and  it  has  steadily  developed  ever  since. 
In  batteries  of  the  Faure  type  the  plates  are  first  covered  with  a 
paste  of  litharge  or  lead  oxide,  and  then  a  strong  current  of  elec- 
tricity is  sent  through  the  cell.  The  current  decomposes  the  oxide 
on  one  plate,  leaving  a  coating  of  porous  spongy  metallic  lead,  while 
on  the  other  plate  the  oxide  is  converted  into  lead  peroxide.  When 
the  battery  is  in  this  condition,  it  is  said  to  be  charged,  and  is  capable 
of  furnishing  an  amount  of  electrical  energy  nearly  equivalent  to 
that  which  was  first  required  to  charge  it.  Thus  we  see  that  elec- 
tricity is  not  stored  up  in  a  storage  battery,  as  is  commonly  supposed, 
but  the  electrical  energy  is  converted  into  chemical  energy,  and  in 
this  form  can  be  stored  indefinitely. 

The  storage  battery  recently  developed  by  Thomas  A.  Edison 
has  for  its  elements  nickel-oxide  and  iron  immersed  in  a  solution  of 
caustic  potash.  This  battery  promises  great  things  for  automobile 
use,  on  account  of  its  light  weight  and  great  durability,  but  for 
central  stations  the  lead  storage  battery  will  probably  hold  its  own 
for  some  time  to  come.  Storage  batteries  are  used  chiefly  in  power 
stations  where  the  load  is  variable,  the  reason  for  this  being  that 
at  certain  hours,  usually  between  5  and  7  p.m.,  the  station  is  called 
upon  to  furnish  an  amount  of  power  far  in  excess  of  the  average 
load.  In  the  early  morning  hours,  when  the  load  is  light,  some  of 
the  dynamos  are  used  to  charge  the  battery;  then,  when  the  heavy 
load  comes  on  and  the  station  is  taxed  to  the  limit  of  its  capacity,  the 
storage  battery  is  used  to  help  the  dynamos  and  returns  the  energy 
which  was  stored  up  in  it. 

When  the  central  distributing  station  receives  its  power  from 
a  distance  as  is  usually  the  case  when  water-power  Is  employed,  alter- 
nating currents  are  used  for  transmission  purposes.  An  alternating 
current  carniot  be  used  for  charging  a  battery ;  so  the  high  potential 
alternating  current  Is  stepped  down  by  means  of  transformers,  and 
then  converted  Into  direct  current  by  means  of  rotary  converters, 
the  rotary  converter  being  an  alternating-current  motor  and  a  direct- 
current  generator  combined  in  one  machine.  The  direct  current 
from  the  converter  Is  used  to  charge  the  battery,  and  when  the  central 
station  supplies  power  for  street  cars,  which  always  run  on  direct 
current,  both  the  battery  and  the  converters  supply  the  current.     In 


46  MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 

case  extra  power  is  needed  on  the  alternating-current  distributing 
lines,  the  battery  current  is  changed  back  into  alternating  current 
by  means  of  the  same  converter  and  used  in  its  original  form. 

At  the  extremity  of  a  long  suburban  trolley  line  the  electro- 
motive force  or  pressure  is  liable  to  be  low,  on  account  of  "  drop" 
in  the  line.  To  overcome  this  *'  boosters"  are  sometimes  used.  A 
booster  is  a  machine  resembling  in  outward  appearance  a  direct- 
current  motor  or  dynamo,  it  being  in  reality  a  combination  of  both. 
It  receives  the  low-pressure  current  from  the  line  and  in  return 
supplies  a  high-pressure  current  to  the  line,  in  this  way  keeping  the 
pressure  up  to  550  volts  when  it  otherwise  would  be  down  to  300 
volts  or  less.  Sometimes  a  storage  battery  is  used  in  connection  with 
the  booster.  When  few  cars  are  running  the  booster  charges  the 
battery,  but  when  the  load  is  heavy  and  the  pressure  is  low  the  cur- 
rent from  the  battery  runs  back  into  the  line.  A  system  of  this  kind 
regulates  itself  automatically;  the  batteries  are  always  charged  and 
are  said  to  be  "  floating"  on  the  line. 

During  the  ten  years  ending  with  the  census  year,  the  railways 
of  the  United  States  installed  about  2,000,000  horse-power  of  motors 
on  cars  and  about  1,000,000  horse-power  of  dynamos  to  drive  them. 
The  census  experts  estimated  the  investment  in  storage  batteries  in 
the  United  States  in  1900  to  be  $11,000,000,  with  a  capacity  of 
300,000  horse-power  hours. 

The  copper  industry  depends  very  largely  upon  electric  appa- 
ratus for  its  support.  Most  of  the  commercial  copper  is  produced 
electrolytically,  and  thus  electricity  both  gives  to  and  takes  from 
the  copper  industry.  Copper  is  beginning  to  have  a  competitor  in 
aluminum,  however,  as  a  conductor.  An  aluminum  w^ire  of  the 
same  current-carrying  capacity  as  a  copper  wire  is  one-fourth  larger 
in  diameter,  but  weighs  only  about  one-half  as  much  and  costs  less. 
So  copper  must  have  a  care,  or  the  light  metal  will  be  ousting  it 
from  its  best  field. 

The  insulated  wire  and  cable  business  of  the  country  amounted 
to  over  $21,000,000  in  value  in  1900,  this  large  business  having 
grown  up  entirely  as  tributary  to  electrical  apparatus.  The  first 
braiding  of  insulation  on  wires  was  done  by  F.  Bridges  and  C.  S. 
Bishop,  about  1859,  using  the  methods  then  common  to  braiding 
whips.  A  number  of  efforts  were  made  to  introduce  rubber  into 
the  insulation,  these  being  finally  successful,  when  Mr.  Bishop  laid 
a  cable  across  the  Hudson  at  New  York  City,  it  being  protected  with 
three  gutta-percha  coverings.  From  this  sprang  the  use  of  sub- 
marine cables  for  crossing  rivers,  and  the  use  of  similar  cables  in 
underground  conduits  in  cities,  etc.,  is  an  outgrowth. 


ELECTRICITY    FOR    THE    MILLION 


47 


The  tendency  to  place  electric  wires  underground  is  a  growing 
one.  At  first  this  was  considered  a  hardship  by  the  companies  having 
to  bear  the  expense,  and  it  was  only  forced  by  legislation  against 
networks  of  overhead  wires.  But  as  methods  of  underground  insu- 
lation improved  and  cables  were  laid  on  a  larger  scale,  it  was  found 
to  be  less  expensive  than  at  first,  and  that  this  expense  was  largely 
offset  by  a  reduced  charge  for  repairs  and  an  improved  service  to 
the  public,  so  that  now  the  practice  is  often  undertaken  voluntarily 
b}^  companies  having  numerous  lines  to  care  for. 

Overhead  telegraph  and  telephone  wires  are  often  thrown  out 
of  business  during  severe  storms,  entailing  a  loss  of  receipts  as  well 
as  extra  expense  for  repairs  on  the  companies,  whereas  the  under- 
ground wires  are  not  only  free  from  this  sort  of  annoyance,  but 
require  very  much  less  in  the  way  of  general  repairs.  When  once 
put  under  ground  in  a  right  manner,  the  wires  are  apt  to  stay  right. 
The  method  of  laying  wires  underground  consists  in  wrapping  each 
individual  wire  in  an  insulating  sheath,  as  of  specially  desiccated 
paper.  Bundles  of  these  insulated  wires,  forming  a  cable,  are  then 
enclosed  in  a  leaden  pipe,  the  work  being  done  in  a  dry  atmosphere 
to  avoid  all  moisture.  The  bundles  of  wire  enclosed  in  the  lead  pipe 
are  reeled,  on  enormous  wooden  drums,  so  that  considerable  lengths 
can  be  handled  conveniently. 

A  trench  being  dug  and  vitrified  tile  conduit  laid  in,  the  lead 
cable  is  run  into  the  conduit,  being  first  well  greased  with  petrolatum, 
which  not  only  serves  to  lubricate  its  passage,  but  is  a  farther  pre- 
ventive of  moisture.  The  trench  is  made  deep  enough  to  avoid 
contact  with  anything  from  the  surface  that  might  be  deleterious, 
and  the  sections  of  conduit  are  carefully  joined  with  cement.  At 
points  where  sections  of  cable  have  to  be  joined  together  extra  care 
is  taken  to  secure  the  same  conditions  of  dryness  and  perfect  insu- 
lation. The  wires  and  the  insulating  paper  are  all  spliced  at  different 
points,  so  that  there  is  little  bulging  of  the  cable,  and  the  junction 
of  the  adjacent  lead  pipes  is  carefully  sealed. 

The  British  Postal  Telegraph  Department  In  1900  placed  under 
ground  all  its  wires  between  London  and  Birmingham,  a  distance 
of  117  miles,  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  its  service  more  positive 
and  unfailing.  The  larger  portion  of  the  line  was  already  under 
ground,  the  work  consisting  in  changing  those  sections  that  were 
operated  overhead.  This  is,  or  was  at  that  date,  the  longest  under- 
ground telegraph  line  in  the  world. 

The  American  Bell  Telephone  Company  now  has  more  wire 
under  ground  than  above,  they  having  a  little  more  than  a  million 


48  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

miles  of  wire  in  use.  Of  those  above  ground  a  large  portion  are 
now  encased  in  insulated  cables,  very  much  after  the  underground 
method.  In  long  lines,  test-boxes  are  placed  at  intervals  of  a  few 
miles,  at  which  points  access  may  be  had  to  the  wires  to  test  their 
making  the  proper  connections,  and  an  opportunity  is  afforded  to 
connect  branch  wires.  All  electric-lighting  circuits  in  large  cities  are 
now  laid  under  ground,  and  the  same  is  true  of  many  small  cities. 

Among  the  minor  developments  of  electrical  industry  may  be 
mentioned  annunciators  or  call-bells,  of  which  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars'  worth  are  made  in  the  United  States  yearly ;  electric  clocks, 
automatically  corrected  or  kept  to  the  true  time  by  a  current  sent 
over  a  wire  from  a  central  source,  which  industry  does  a  business  of 
$150,000  a  year;  lightning  arresters  and  fuses,  manufactured  to  an 
annual  total  of  over  $600,000 ;  and  electric  meters,  which  total  up 
about  $2,000,000  yearly. 

There  are  several  forms  of  lightning  arrester  on  the  market, 
all  operating  upon  the  same  general  principle.  It  was  discovered 
by  A.  J.  Wurtz  that  a  high-potential,  high-frequency,  lightning  dis- 
charge will  jump  across  an  air-gap  and  find  its  way  to  the  ground 
in  preference  to  following  a  circuitous  wire  into  a  power  station 
or  trolley-car  and  there  doing  damage.  The  usual  form  consists 
of  a  series  of  cylinders  made  of  an  alloy  that  will  not  arc,  and  with 
a  knurled  surface,  these  being  set  about  a  thirty-second  of  an  inch 
apart  on  a  porcelain  block.  The  spaces  are  for  spark  gaps,  and  when 
a  bolt  of  lightning  enters,  it  jumps  the  gaps  and  is  led  into  the 
ground ;  the  arc  which  follows  is  interrupted  by  the  non-conducting 
oxide  thrown  ofif.  This  is  used  generally  in  connection  with  a  flat 
spiral  choking  coil,  which  impedes  the  lightning  but  interferes  very 
little  with  the  working  current. 

A  very  high-potential  lightning  arrester  usually  has  ten,  twenty, 
or  more  cylinders  arranged  in  series,  with  a  non-inductive  resistance 
of  from  a  hundred  to  several  thousand  ohms  connected  in  parallel 
with  one-half  the  gaps.  It  is  used  with  choking  coils,  and  the  number 
of  spark  gaps  depends  upon  the  potential  of  the  circuit.  The  Thom- 
son magnetic  blow-out  consists  of  a  pair  of  curved  metal  strips  be- 
tween the  poles  of  a  compact  electro-magnet  that  is  energized  by  the 
arcing  current.  The  line  being  connected  with  one  curved  strip  and 
the  ground  with  the  other,  when  the  lightning  comes  and  leaps  the 
gap,  the  arc  is  repelled  to  the  tips  of  the  curved  strips  and  blown 
out. 

How  impossible  it  is  even  to  mention  the  great  variety  of 
electrical  supplies  now  on  the  market  can  be  gathered  from  the  fact 


ELECTRICITY    FOR    THE    MILLION 


49 


that  the  catalogue  of  a  well-known  supply  house  enumerates  over 
two  thousand  separate  and  distinct  articles,  apart  from  large  elec- 
trical machinery,  and  classed  as  supplies.  These  include  such  things 
as  physicians'  batteries  and  odier  electrotherapeutical  apparatus,  sci- 
entific apparatus  for  colleges,  electrical  toys,  cigar-  and  gas-lighters, 
insulators,  brushes,  carbons,  special  tools  for  burning  patterns  on 
wood  or  trimming  the  pile  of  velvet,  etc.,  etc. 

I  am  obliged  to  leave  the  subject  here,  as  too  large  for  farther 
space  in  a  work  of  this  character.  The  reader  who  is  specially  inter- 
ested in  electrical  development  will  find  plenty  of  books  in  any  public 
library,  and  for  recent  and  up-to-date  information  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  reliable  and  well-edited  electrical  journals. 


MARCONI'S   VICTORY  OVER  THE   ETHER 

The  ancients  pictured  Jove  as  playing  with  the  hghtning ;  now 
Man  harnesses  the  electric  current  that  it  may  do  his  work.  When 
Benjamin  Franklin  took  a  shock  from  a  kite-string,  when  Cyrus  W. 
Field  tried  to  girdle  the  earth  with  a  cable,  when  Thomas  A.  Edison 
burned  a  platinum  wire  in  a  vacuum,  when  Alexander  Graham  Bell 
first  heard  a  whisper  over  the  telephone,  when  the  letter  S  came 
out  of  the  mists  of  the  Atlantic  to  Marconi's  coherer — then  mile- 
stones were  planted  along  the  highway  of  electrical  progress.  And 
as  the  years  go  on  and  we  rush  forward  with  increasing  energy,  it 
seems  as  if  these  mile-stones  thickened  by  the  way,  and,  while  they 
used  to  be  separated  by  years,  now  only  months  or  sometimes  weeks 
intervene  between  the  announcement  of  one  startling  success  in  the 
world  of  electricity  and  the  next  new  marvel. 

The  more  men  study  this  wonderful  thing  we  call  electricity 
the  more  it  seems  to  give  forth  that  which  is  useful  and  convenient 
for  mankind.  Because  we  cannot  handle  it  as  we  can  iron  and  wood, 
and  because  it  does  not  so  readily  manifest  its  presence  to  the  senses, 
its  properties  remained  hidden  from  primitive  man.  What  we  know 
of  it  now  is  mainly  through  studying  its  effects  and  reasoning  from 
result  to  cause.  We  can  see  it  in  the  lightning,  the  arc  lamp,  and 
the  incandescent  light ;  we  can  feel  it  in  the  current  of  the  physi- 
cian's battery,  and  note  its  pulling  power  in  the  magnet;  we  know 
that  it  may  both  kill  and  cure — and  for  the  rest  the  average  man 
or  woman  depends  upon  the  electrician  or  the  scientist,  and  takes 
his  word  as  to  phenomena  whose  description  is  too  full  of  technique 
to  be  agreeable. 

That  we  may  describe  intelligibly  the  more  recent  develop- 
ments in  this  field,  let  us  first  try  to  arrive  at  an  understanding  of 
the  nature  of  electricity.  It  manifests  itself  in  a  hypothetical  medium 
named  the  ether.  This  ether  is  assumed  to  pervade  all  things.  When 
the  ether  is  disturbed,  vibrations  are  set  up.  Some  of  these  vibra- 
tions come  to  our  senses  as  light,  and  some  of  them  we  know  as 
electricity.  When  the  disturbance  is  sufficiently  violent,  we  have 
heat  as  a  manifestation.  It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  by  electricity 
we  can  produce  light  and  heat;  neither  is  it  strange  that  we  can 
act  upon  things  at  a  distance,  since  the  medium  is  all-pervading. 
Through  electricity  it  is  theoretically  possible  to  repeat  almost  any 
mechanical  operation  at  a  distance. 

50 


Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Stations. 

I.  Four-Tower  Station  (see  page  55);  II.  U.  S.  Wireless  Telegraph  Station  at  North 
Tru ;  III.  Wireless  Telegraph  Tower,  210  feet  high;  IV.  Mast  on  Michigan  Avenue;  V. 
T-Station. 


52  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

Electricity,  like  water,  seeks  its  level,  and,  as  water  goes  down 
through  every  convenient  aperture,  so  electricity  flows  along  the 
lines  of  least  resistance.  We  can  charge  a  substance  with  electricity 
by  friction,  provided  that  substance  is  insulated, — that  is,  surrounded 
by  poor  conductors  of  electricity.  By  burning  coal  under  a  steam- 
boiler,  and  using  the  pressure  of  the  steam  to  drive  an  engine,  and 
using  the  force  of  the  engine  to  rotate  an  arrangement  of  wires 
constituting  an  electrical  magnet,  we  can  transform  a  part  of  the 
energy  of  the  coal  into  a  current  that  flows  out  along  conductors 
and  will  drive  motors  to  do  our  work.  From  one  of  the  same  con- 
ductors we  can  take  off  light,  either  by  leaving  a  short  gap  in  the 
conductor,  across  which  the  current  leaps,  forming  an  electric  arc; 
or  by  using  a  filament  that  is  a  poor  conductor,  as  carbon,  and  which 
therefore  heats  with  the  stress  and  becomes  incandescent.  Heat  for 
any  ordinary  purpose  may  also  be  obtained  by  the  use  of  poor  con- 
ductors or  resistance  in  the  circuit. 

For  fifty  years  the  student  in  electrical  science  has  operated  by 
means  of  wires,  choosing  good  conductors,  as  copper,  to  convey 
currents,  and  transmit  thought,  energy,  light,  motion,  etc.,  to  some 
desired  point.  Now  comes  Marconi,  in  the  train  of  other  exploiters 
in  the  wireless  field,  and  demonstrates  that  if  only  sender  and  receiver 
are  tuned  alike,  and  the  instruments  delicate  enough,  we  can  use 
the  ether  around  us  to  carry  our  messages.  This  is  done  by  means 
of  the  etheric  waves  whose  existence  was  demonstrated  by  Heinrich 
Flertz,  and  which  are  therefore  called  Hertzian  waves.  These  waves 
or  vibrations  of  the  ether  are  much  slower  in  rate  of  vibration  than 
light  waves,  and  Marconi  and  other  inventors  who  have  made  prog- 
ress in  wireless  telegraphy  have  done  so  by  devising  means  for  better 
controlling  and  detecting  these  waves.  Previous  to  December,  190 1, 
two  hundred  miles  was  the  greatest  distance  to  which  any  message 
had  been  received  without  wires. 

This  record  was  held  by  William  Marconi,  who  was  even  then 
the  acknowledged  leader  in  this  line  of  scientific  research.  In  that 
month  Marconi  left  his  station  at  Poldhu,  Cornwall,  and  sailed  for 
Newfoundland.  He  left  instructions  that  after  the  time  for  his  ar- 
rival in  America,  the  letter  S  should  be  signalled  from  Poldhu  from 
3  to  6  P.M.  daily,  this  time  corresponding  to  11.30  to  2.30  at  Signal 
Hill,  St.  John's  harbor,  the  place  at  which  he  had  established  his 
receiving  station.  None  but  his  confidential  assistants  knew  his 
purpose.  He  had  calculated  that,  with  a  certain  amount  of  electrical 
energy  sent  out  at  Poldhu,  the  waves  should  be  strong  enough  to 
affect  a  coherer  at  St.  John's,  1800  miles  distant;  but  he  could  not 
afford  to  let  the  world  know  if  he  failed. 


MARCONI'S   VICTORY    OVER   THE    ETHER  53 

To  receive  the  Hertzian  waves  an  elevated  wire  was  required. 
He  first  tried  sending  one  up  in  a  balloon,  but  the  strong-  winds  which 
prevail  there  carried  it  away.  Then  he  tried  kites,  and  on  the  memo- 
rable 1 2th  of  December,  1901,  succeeded  in  keeping  his  kite  elevated 
over  four  hundred  feet  for  a  period  of  four  hours,  during  that  time 
hearing  the  letter  S  recorded  on  the  Morse  instrument,  by  three  taps, 
at  least  twenty-five  times.  Notwithstanding  that  he  knew  better 
than  any  one  else  that  the  expected  result  should  come,  we  can 
imagine  the  feeling  of  reverential  awe  that  must  have  swept  over 
Marconi  as  he  realized  that  he  was  hearing  for  the  first  time  sounds 
actually  sent  out  by  his  own  direction  from  the  other  side  of  the  broad 
Atlantic.  Even  the  great  Edison  doubted  the  truth  of  the  reports 
when  he  heard  them,  for  at  that  time  it  was  generally  thought  that 
the  Hertzian  waves  travelled  in  straight  lines,  though  Marconi  had 
proved  to  his  own  satisfaction  that  they  followed  the  curvature  of 
the  earth. 

Almost  the  first  recognition  that  Marconi  received  came  in  the 
shape  of  a  warning  from  the  Anglo-American  Cable  Company  that 
he  was  interfering  with  a  franchise  of  theirs  in  telegraphing  from 
St.  John's.  So  he  chose  Table  Head,  a  promontory  east  of  Glace 
Bay,  Cape  Breton  Island,  for  farther  experiment,  and  began  the 
erection  of  a  station  there,  and  later  one  at  South  Wellfleet,  Cape 
Cod. 

But  he  was  not  long  in  breaking  another  record.  On  February 
25  and  26,  1902,  on  board  the  steamship  Philadelphia,  steaming 
towards  America,  he  received  messages  from  Poldhu  up  to  155 1.5 
miles  and  signals  up  to  2099  miles.  Curiously  enough  he  found  that 
messages  sent  during  the  hours  of  daylight  at  distances  of  over  700 
miles  failed  entirely,  \vhereas  at  night  he  was  able  to  receive  them 
to  more  than  double  the  distance,  proving  apparently  that  daylight 
exerted  an  unfavorable  influence  on  the  Hertzian  waves.  By  im- 
proving his  apparatus  he  was  able  to  secure  better  results,  however, 
and  during  the  following  summer  received  messages  in  the  harbor 
of  Cronstadt,  Russia,  from  Poldhu,  1400  miles,  distant,  this  being 
accomplished  in  the  presence  of  the  Czar  and  the  King  of  Italy. 
Victor  Emmanuel  was  so  impressed  that  he  gave  Marconi  the  use 
of  the  cruiser  Carlo  Alberta  for  six  months,  to  assist  his  experi- 
ments. 

January  18,  1903,  Marconi  sent  from  Cape  Cod  a  message 
dictated  by  President  Roosevelt  to  King  Edward,  which  was  suc- 
cessfully transmitted  about  2500  miles,  this  result  convincing  all 
doubters  that  there  existed  no  positive  limit  to  the  distance  that 


54  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

might  be  covered  by  Marconi's  system,  the  strength  of  the  currents 
set  up  and  the  rehability  of  the  instruments  being  the  determining 
factors.  As  only  seven  kilowatts  were  used  in  transmitting  this 
message,  it  was  abundantly  demonstrated  that  the  electric  energy 
necessary  to  carry  on  long-distance  work  was  not  of  a  character  to 
interfere  with  other  electric  apparatus  located  near  a  sending  station, 
as  was  at  first  argued  by  detractors  of  the  system.  Those  who  had 
prophesied  numerous  fires  as  a  result  of  sending  out  such  tremendous 
sparkings  were  nonplussed  by  evidence  that  a  current  sufficient  to 
act  upon  a  coherer  at  fifty  miles  would  not  set  on  fire  a  piece  of 
paper  placed  directly  in  the  spark  of  the  transmitter. 

The  record  message  referred  to,  which  occupied  four  minutes 
in  sending,  read  as  follows : 

"  His  Majesty  King  Edward  VII. ,  London,  by  Marconi  Transatlantic  Wire- 
less Telegraphy : 

"  In  taking  advantage  of  the  wonderful  triumph  of  scientific  research  and 
ingenuity  which  has  been  achieved  in  perfecting  a  system  of  wireless  telegraphy, 
I  extend,  on  behalf  of  the  American  people,  most  cordial  greetings  and  good 
wishes  to  you  and  to  all  the  people  of  the  British  Empire. 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 
"  Washington,  D.   C." 

It  seems  that  Marconi  did  not  expect  at  the  time  of  sending 
that  he  could  make  the  distance  direct,  but  intended  to  transmit 
the  message  to  Glace  Bay  and  thence  have  it  repeated  to  Poldhu. 
While  he  was  communicating  with  Glace  Bay,  the  operator  there 
sent  him  back  word  that  he  had  just  heard  from  Poldhu  that  their 
instruments  had  received  the  message  at  the  time  Marconi  was  trans- 
mitting it  to  be  received  by  Glace  Bay. 

Marconi's  early  apparatus  consisted  of  a  modified  form  of 
Hertzian  oscillator,  which  had  one  sphere  of  the  spark-discharger 
earthed  and  the  other  connected  to  an  elevated  and  practically  vertical 
wire.  When  sparks  are  discharged  by  this  apparatus,  some  of  the 
electric  energy  is  thrown  off  in  the  form  of  a  displacement  wave  in 
the  ether,  and  the  vertical  wire  radiates  electric  waves.  The  regu- 
lating of  the  spark  action  by  the  strokes  of  a  Morse  telegraph-key 
causes  the  waves  to  vary  so  that  they  reproduce  at  a  receiving  sta- 
tion in  the  Morse  alphabet,  and  may  be  read  by  any  telegraph  oper- 
ator in  dots  and  dashes. 

The  receiver  used  previous  to  1903  was  a  coherer,  a  simple 
instrument,  consisting  essentially  of  a  small  glass  tube  plugged  at 
either  end  with  a  wire,  and  having  between  the  wires  a  gap  partly 
filled  with  filings,  preferably  a  mixture  of  silver  and  nickel  filings. 


MARCONI'S    VICTORY    OVER   THE    ETHER  55 

The  wire  at  one  end  of  the  coherer  is  earthed,  and  the  other  is  run 
up  vertically  to  catch  the  waves.  When  such  a  coherer  becomes 
affected  by  a  Hertzian  wave,  the  filings  arrange  themselves  in  a  line 
and  form  a  connection,  that  may  be  registered  by  an  ordinary  tele- 
graph recorder  or  be  heard  in  the  telephone.  The  wave  having 
passed  it  is  necessary  to  throw  the  filings  out  of  line  by  tapping 
the  coherer,  this  tapper  being  called  a  decoherer.  The  Hertzian 
wave  from  a  long  distance  is  too  weak  of  itself  to  operate  a  telegraph 
instrument,  but  it  is  strong  enough  to  affect  the  filings,  and  when 
these  connect  the  wires  at  either  end  of  the  coherer,  a  local  current 
is  brought  in  as  a  relay,  and  this  in  turn  causes  another  stronger 
current  to  operate  the  recording  instrument  and  also  the  decoherer. 

Marconi  signal  stations  have  been  constructed  in  several  dif- 
ferent ways,  one  method  being  as  follows :  Four  towers  are  erected 
at  the  angles  of  a  quadrangle,  and  run  up  to  a  height  of  about  250 
feet,  at  a  distance  apart  of  perhaps  160  feet.  These  towers  are  well 
braced  with  wires  and  connected  at  the  top  by  bridges.  From  each 
of  the  four  bridges  depend  on  either  side  sets  of  fifty  copper  cables, 
which  converge  towards  a  central  building,  in  which  they  terminate. 
These  copper  cables  are  the  elevated  wires  that  catch  the  waves  of 
messages  received,  and  that  radiate  the  waves  of  messages  sent  out. 

In  order  that  messages  sent  by  various  stations  may  not  con- 
flict, tuning  is  resorted  to.  This  means  the  use  at  a  given  sending 
and  receiving  station  of  apparatus  that  responds  to  a  given  period 
of  vibrations,  just  as  one  tuning-fork  responds  to  another  of  like 
character,  or  as  a  piano-wire  sometimes  responds  to  the  note  of  a 
violin.  Tuning-forks  and  piano-wires  vibrate  the  air,  and  in  wire- 
less telegraphy  the  ether  must  be  vibrated;  otherwise  the  principle 
involved  is  the  same.  A  number  of  tuning  systems  have  been  de- 
vised, and  that  of  Professor  M.  I.  Pupin,  of  Columbia  University, 
has  been  taken  up  by  the  Marconi  Company,  which  has  the  exclusive 
license  for  its  use.  This  system  provides  for  the  construction  of 
several  branch  electric  circuits  in  connection  with  a  given  line,  the 
arrangement  being  such  that  each  circuit  corresponds  to  a  certain 
pitch  of  frequency.  Then  by  impressing  an  alternating  electro- 
motive force  on  the  line,  or  on  the  ether,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  cor- 
responding receiver  alone  will  respond. 

The  principle  involved  in  this  system  of  tuning  is  said  to  have 
been  thought  out  by  Marconi  and  by  Professor  Pupin  at  about  the 
same  time,  each,  of  course,  without  knowledge  of  the  other's  efforts. 
By  having  a  series  of  such  transmitters  and  receivers  at  stations,  dif- 
ferent messages  can  be  sent  by  the  corresponding  instruments  over 


56 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


the  same  radiating  and  receiving  wires,  thus  multiplexing  the  entire 
system.  While  the  tuning  system  is  preferred  for  land  work,  at  this 
writing  it  is  not  applied  to  the  installations  in  ships,  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  considered  to  be  an  advantage  for  every  ship  so  equipped 
to  be  able  to  communicate  with  every  other  ship.  In  time,  probably, 
ships  will  be  equipped  with  a  general  system,  that  can  be  received 
on  any  ship  or  on  land,  and  also  with  a  system  made  private  by 
tuning  for  such  as  it  is  desired  to  communicate  with. 

A  number  of  coherers  have  been  invented,  one,  called  the 
Italian  navy  coherer,  having  two  carbon  electrodes,  enclosing  two 
drops  of  mercury,  separated  by  a  small  iron  cylinder.    This  requires 


Diagram  of  Marconi's  Magnetic  Detector. 

no  tapper,  being  self-decohering.  It  is  used  with  a  telephone,  and 
increases  the  speed  of  operation.  But  the  development  of  coherers 
has  been  checked  by  the  bringing  out  of  several  better  instruments 
for  a  similar  purpose,  commonly  called  wave  detectors.  Marconi's 
magnetic  detector  is  thus  described  by  himself : 


"  On  a  core  (C)  of  thin  iron  or  steel,  but  preferably  hard  drawn  iron,  are 
wound  one  or  two  layers  of  thin  insulated  copper  wire.  Over  this  winding  in- 
sulating material  is  placed,  and  over  this,  again,  another  longer  winding  of  thin 
copper  wire  contained  in  a  narrow  bobbin.  The  ends  of  the  winding  nearest  the 
iron  core  are  connected,  one  to  earth  (G)  and  the  other  to  an  elevated  conductor 
(A),  or  they  may  be  connected  to  the  secondary  of  a  suitable  receiving  trans- 
former or  intensifying  coil,  such  as  are  employed  for  syntonic  wireless  telegraphy. 
The  ends  of  the  other  winding  are  connected  to  the  terminals  of  a  telephone  (R) 
or  other  suitable  receiving  instrument.  Near  the  ends  of  the  core,  or  in  close 
proximity  to  it,  is  placed  a  horseshoe  magnet  (M)  which,  by  a  clock-work 
arrangement  (B),  is  so  moved  or  revolved  as,  to  cause  a  slow  and  constant  change 
or  successive  reversals  in  the  magnetization  of  the  piece  of  iron." 


i 


MARCONI'S    VICTORY    OVER   THE    ETHER 


57 


This  detector  has  proved  much  more  sensitive  and  rehable  than 
the  coherer,  and  permits  a  speed  of  thirty  or  forty  words  a  minute, 
which  Mr.  Marconi  thinks  can  be  increased  to  several  hundred  words 
a  minute. 

Wireless  telegraphy  undoubtedly  has  a  bright  future  for  land 
use  over  short  distances,  especially  where  a  multiple  service  is  de- 
sired. For  instance,  the  Associated  Press  might  serve  ten  news- 
papers in  a  large  city  with  the  same  despatches  at  a  single  sending, 
each  newspaper  having  a  receiving  station.  Or  large  business  houses 
desiring  any  sort  of  special  information  promptly  and  regularly 
might  receive  it  in  the  same  way.  This  is  a  sort  of  service  that 
cannot  be  had  from  either  the  ordinary  telegraph  or  the  telephone, 
and  is  a  field  in  which  a  wide  development  may  be  expected. 

The  world  is  beginning  to  appreciate  what  wireless  telegraphy 
can  accomplish  and  what  must  not  be  expected  of  it.  The  great  pub- 
lic usually  expects  too  much  of  an  invention  that  suggests  startling 
innovations.  There  is  no  good  reason  for  believing  that  wireless 
telegraphy  will  put  the  submarine  cables  out  of  business.  The  electric 
light  did  not  kill  off  the  gas  companies,  nor  did  gas  put  out  the  kero- 
sene lamp,  nor  the  lamp  blow  out  the  tallow  candle.  All  of  these 
lights  continue  to  have  their  uses,  and  the  ocean  cables  have  theirs, 
just  as  have  the  telegraph  and  the  telephone  lines,  and  the  wire- 
less telegraph  will  find  a  place  for  itself  without  seriously  disturbing 
either. 

The  drawbacks  to  the  wireless  systems  come  principally  from 
interference,  and  there  have  been  those  who  exclaimed  against  the 
whole  thing  because  it  has  been  possible  for  one  rival  company 
to  send  out  strong  currents  near  the  receiving  station  of  another 
company  and  thus  mix  up  its  messages  so  that  nothing  could  be 
understood.  The  reports  of  certain  yacht  races  were  killed  in  this 
way,  and  during  naval  manoeuvres  it  has  been  possible  for  rival 
fleets  to  cripple  each  other's  wireless  service. 

Of  course  the  desired  remedy  for  these  difficulties  is  improved 
mechanism,  preventing  interference.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
such  improvements  will  be  made,  and  that,  even  if  they  fail  to  wholly 
protect  this  sort  of  communication,  there  are  other  ways  of  securing 
protection  from  annoyance.  International  agreements  have  already 
been  proposed  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  regulations  that  will 
prevent  maritime  nations  from  interfering  with  one  another's  service. 
The  common-sense  of  the  parties  using  wireless  telegraphy  is  bound 
to  make  them  have  a  decent  regard  for  each  other's  rights,  if  only 
for  the  purpose  of  freeing  themselves  from  inconvenience. 


58  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

There  have  been  many,  especially  in  England  and  Germany, 
who  objected  to  giving  Marconi  the  credit  of  making  a  success  of 
wireless  telegraphy.  In  the  United  States  he  has  generally  received 
fair  treatment  in  this  regard.  Of  course,  Marconi  did  not  invent  the 
whole  system,  any  more  than  Edison  invented  all  there  is  to  the 
electric  light,  or  Bell  all  there  is  to  the  telephone ;  but  Marconi  did 
do  more  than  any  other  man  to  make  wireless  telegraphy  a  commer- 
cial proposition.  The  fact  that  Marconi  was  able  to  bring  into  a 
partnership  with  himself  such  men  as  Edison  and  Pupin  shows  how 
strong  is  his  position  with  the  most  gifted  students  of  electricity. 
Professor  Elihu  Thomson,  who  is  eminently  qualified  to  be  a  judge 
as  to  the  credit  due  Marconi,  has  said : 

"  I  believe  Marconi  is  entitled  to  all  the  credit  he  has  been  given  for  wireless 
telegraphy.  He  has  done  all  the  practical  work  and  developed  the  theory.  Others 
have  theorized  on  it,  but  Marconi  has  put  the  thing  to  practical  use.  I  have  given 
this  matter  a  good  deal  of  study,  and  I  am  convinced  that  Marconi  deserves  all 
he  has  got." 

Although  Marconi  has  been  more  successful  than  any  other 
inventor  in  the  field  of  wireless  telegraphy,  there  are  others  who 
have  done  excellent  and  successful  work.  The  Slaby-d'Arco  system 
is  being  introduced  on  the  European  continent  and  used  in  the 
United  States  navy,  and  the  Lodge-Muirhead  system  has  been  in- 
stalled on  the  ships  of  the  English  cable  companies.  This  last-named 
system  is  the  result  of  the  combined  efforts  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 
principal  of  the  Birmingham  (England)  University,  and  of  Dr. 
Alex.  Muirhead,  a  wealthy  manufacturer.  It  was  Dr.  Lodge  who, 
in  June,  1894,  demonstrated  in  London,  at  a  lecture,  that  Hertzian 
waves  could  be  detected  by  suitable  receivers  through  solid  walls. 
Since  that  date  his  experiments  continued,  and  he  is  recognized  as 
perhaps  the  most  advanced  student  of  wireless  telegraphy  in  Eng- 
land. Instead  of  a  coherer  he  employs  as  a  receiver  a  small  fine- 
edged  steel  disk  that  is  rotated  by  clockwork  upon  a  globule  of 
mercury,  there  being  a  thin  film  of  oil  between  the  disk  and  the 
mercury.  The  oil  acts  as  an  insulator  under  normal  conditions,  but 
when  an  oscillation  or  wave  is  received  from  the  transmitting  sta- 
tion the  film  of  oil  breaks  down  and  a  contact  is  established  between 
the  disk  and  the  mercury,  thus  completing  a  circuit  in  the  instrument, 
and  bringing  a  siphon  recorder  into  operation.  The  Lodge-Muir- 
head system  employs  elevated  wires  to  radiate  and  receive  the  waves, 
in  a  manner  similar  to  the  Marconi  system. 

Radically  different  is  the  method  devised  by  Axtel  Orling,  a 
young  Swedish  electrician,  operating  in  conjunction  with  a  London 


I 


MARCONI'S    VICTORY    OVER    THE    ETHER 


59 


engineer,  J.  T.  Armstrong.  High  masts,  coherers,  and  induction 
coils  are  dispensed  with,  the  apparatus  being  of  the  simplest  charac- 
ter, and  perhaps  destined  to  come  into  use  as  a  cheap  portable  out- 
fit for  local  use.  It  can  be  encased  in  a  box  seven  by  eight  by  four 
inches,  and  weighs  but  half  a  dozen  pounds.  The  case  includes  a 
battery  of  eight  volts,  very  little  power  being  required.  To  put  the 
apparatus  in  operation  out-doors,  two  iron  stakes  are  driven  into 
the  ground  to  a  depth  of  about  eighteen  inches  and  about  twelve 
feet  apart.  A  wire  being  tied  to  each  stake  is  carried  to  the  posi- 
tive and  negative  poles  of  the  battery  and  attached  by  contact  screws. 
The  operator  puts  a  telephone  receiver  to  his  ear,  and  can  hear  mes- 
sages sent  by  similar  apparatus  from  a  distance  of  twenty  miles. 
The  apparatus  can  be  used  in  a  moving  carriage,  if  it  has  iron  tires, 
by  connecting  the  wires  to  a  roller  pressing  against  one  of  the  tires. 

The  Orling  apparatus  is  based  upon  the  capillary  attraction  of 
mercury  when  affected  by  an  electric  current.  A  siphon  is  filled 
with  mercury  in  such  a  manner  that  one  leg  is  almost  ready  to  drop 
a  globule  of  mercury  upon  the  lever  of  a  Morse  key.  When  a 
current  coming  through  the  earth  affects  the  mercury,  a  drop  falls 
on  the  lever,  and  the  Morse  key  ticks,  and  is  heard  by  the  person 
listening  at  the  telephone  receiver. 

A  most  interesting  application  of  the  Orling  apparatus  has  been 
devised  and  tested  in  miniature  by  Messrs.  Orling  and  Armstrong. 
A  model  of  a  submarine  boat  about  six  feet  in  length  was  equipped 
with  the  apparatus  and  its  manoeuvres  directed  from  the  shore. 
The  operating  instrument  on  the  craft  is  made  to  control  the  rudder 
instead  of  a  Morse  key,  and  the  man  on  shore  operates  a  little  steer- 
ing-wheel, that  is  connected  to  earth,  with  the  sending  apparatus. 
The  bow  and  stern  of  the  iron  boat  act  as  positive  and  negative 
poles,  and  the  water  carries  the  current  even  better  than  the  ground. 
The  rising  and  diving  of  the  submarine  boat  may  be  directed  as 
readily  as  the  right  and  left  steering.  In  fact,  the  experiment  shows 
the  practicability  of  directing  a  submarine  boat  of  good  size  from 
the  deck  of  a  battle-ship;  or  a  torpedo  may  be  substituted  for  a 
submarine  boat,  and  steered  under  water  to  the  hull  of  an  enemy 
and  there  exploded. 

Perhaps  in  the  future,  when  great  naval  forces  meet,  there  will 
be  a  long-distance  skirmish  with  torpedoes  and  submarines,  the 
powerful  fighting  craft  being  afraid  to  close  in  because  of  the  un- 
seen foes  beneath  the  waves.  Messrs.  Orling  and  Armstrong  go 
even  farther  than  this  in  suggesting  the  deadly  possibilities  of 
their  system.     A  harbor  or  coast  may  be  protected  with  submarine 


6o  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

mines  of  dynamite,  each  carrying  an  apparatus  tuned  so  that  it  can 
be  set  off  only  by  its  appropriate  wave.  The  engineer  on  shore 
has  a  chart  of  the  mines,  and  a  set  of  apparatus,  each  one  tuned  to 
a  corresponding  mine.  When  a  vessel  of  an  approaching  fleet  rides 
over  a  mine,  he  touches  off  the  appropriate  receiver,  and  the  enemy 
is  no  more.  There  are  no  wires  running  down  the  beach,  as  with 
the  systems  now  in  use,  to  warn  the  enemy  as  to  the  probable  near- 
ness of  such  mines;  consequently  no  safety  can  be  obtained  by 
sending  a  party  ashore  to  cut  such  wires.  The  enemy  can  avoid 
the  danger  only  by  keeping  away  from  the  mines  or  capturing  the 
headquarters  of  the  operator,  and,  as  he  may  be  in  any  house  within 
twenty  miles,  that  is  out  of  the  question. 

This  system  of  using  electricity  without  wires  has  also  been 
tried  for  operating  the  semaphore  signals  of  a  railway,  and  found 
to  operate  satisfactorily  at  a  distance  of  five  miles,  making  it  possi- 
ble for  railways  to  send  warning  signals  to  a  considerably  greater 
distance  than  with  present  means.  Electric  lamps  can  also  be  lighted 
from  a  distance  by  this  system,  the  method  of  lighting  requiring 
only  the  touching  of  a  button. 

Another  wireless  system  has  been  originated  by  Professor  John 
S.  Stone,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  who  claims 
a  selective  method  that  prevents  all  interference.  He  established  a 
station  at  Lynn  and  another  at  Cambridge,  some  eight  or  ten  miles 
apart.  Though  each  station  is  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  electric- 
car  lines  carrying  strong  currents,  there  has  been  no  interference. 
Mr.  Stone  considers  that  the  success  of  his  system  will  lie  in  its 
selectivity.  By  this  is  meant  the  capacity  of  a  wireless  system  for 
sending,  from  a  given  transmitter  to  a  given  receiver,  a  message 
that  cannot  be  taken  by  any  other  receiver  or  interfered  with  by 
the  sending  out  of  other  strong  currents  in  the  vicinity.  Professor 
Stone  is  able  to  send  a  number  of  messages  simultaneously  from 
one  station,  as  does  Professor  Pupin.  The  Stone  system  is  designed 
for  short-distance  service,  relays  being  used  when  it  is  desired  to 
send  messages  to  considerable  distances. 

A  German  system  for  short-distance  work  was  described  about 
January  i,  1903,  in  Physikalische  Zeitung.  The  inventor  is  Herr 
Blockmann,  and  he  employs  certain  dark  rays  of  the  ether,  desig- 
nating his  system  as  ray  telegraphy.  The  apparatus  is  much  like  a 
heliograph,  except  that  it  employs  other  rays  than  those  of  light, 
and  hence  will  work  in  the  dark  or  in  a  fog,  when  the  heliograph 
would  be  useless.  Mountains,  tall  buildings,  and  the  like  interfere 
with  the  rays,  and  there  must  be  clear  space  between  the  sending 


MARCONI'S    VICTORY    OVER   THE    ETHER 


6i 


and  receiving  stations.  Large  mirrors,  about  thirty-two  inches  in 
diameter,  are  employed  to  send  and  receive  the  rays,  which  are 
reflectible,  as  is  hght.  The  apparatus  permits  simultaneous  mes- 
sages to  be  sent  without  conflict.  If  the  mechanism  prove  inex- 
pensive and  not  easily  put  out  of  order,  there  would  seem  to  be  a 
future  for  this  system. 

"  Wireless"  newspapers  are  among  the  first  products  of  wireless 
telegraphy.  The  first  of  these  was  printed  September  15,  1899, 
and  a  reduced  copy  is  shown  in  the  illustration. 


THE    TRANSATLANTIC    TIMES. 


THE    TRANSATLANTIC    TIMES 


Published  on  toard  the 
•ST PAUL."  !Lt  Sea,  ft  roul! 
or  England,   November  15th, 


One  Dollar  per  Copy  in 
aid  of  the  Seamen's  Fund. 

Mr.  W  W  Bradfield,  Editoi 
in -Chief.  Mr  T  Bowden, 
Assistant  Editor.  Miss  J  B 
Holman,  Treasurer.  Mr  H  H 
McClure,  Managing  Editor. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr 
G  Marconi,  the  passengers  on 
■board  the  "St  Paul."  are 
accorded  a  rare  privilege,  that 
01  receiving  news  several  hours 
before  lending.  Mr  Marconi 
and  his  assistants  have  arranged 
for  work  the  apcaratus  used  in 
reporting  the  YaCQt  Race  in 
New  York,  and  are  now  receiv- 
ing dispatches  from  their 
stMion  at  the  Needles.  War 
news  from  South  Africa  and 
home  messages  from  London 
and   Paris  are  being  received. 


The  most  important  dispatches 
afe  published  on  the  opposite 
page.  As  all  know,  this  is  the 
first  time  that  such  a  venture 
as  this  has  been  undertaken.  A 
Nfiw»paper  published  at  Sea 
*;th  Wireless  Telegraph  mes. 
ilges  received  and  printed  on 
a  ship  going  twenty  knots  an 
hour  1 

This  15  ihe  32nd  voyage 
eastward  of  the  "  S<  Paul.  ' 
There  are  375  passengers  on 
board,  counting  the  distin- 
guished and  extinguished 


Nov.  (}lh 

,,  lOth 

„  1 1th 

,.  I2tll 

..  iS'li 

,,  I4lh 

..  I5it 


uns  ha 

435 
436 
425 
424 
43" 
414 
4(2 


been 


97  miles  ta  Needles  at  u 
oelocic,  nqv.  15th. 


BULLETINS 

1.50  pm.     .     .    .     —    .        First  Signal  received, 
66  miles  from  Needles 


J.40        "Was  that  you   "Si.    Paul"?.«50  miles 
from  Needles. 

i-30        Hurrah  I     Welcome   Home  I      Where    are 
you? 

3-30         40   miles,         Ladysmith     Kimberley  and 
Mafekinj  holding  out  well.         No  big  battle. 
15.000   men  recently  lande.). 

3-40        "  At. Ladysmith  no  more  killed.  Bom- 

bardment at  Kimberley  efTected  the  destruction 
o(  ONE  TIN  POT.  It  was  auctioned  for 
;f200  It  is  f»lt  that  period  of  anxiety  and 
Strain  is  over,  and  that  our  turn  has  come." 

4.00        Sorry     10      Say      ihe      V.  S.  a.      Cruiser 
••  Charleston  "  is  lost     All  hands  saved 

The  thanks  of  the  Editors  are  g-iveh  to  Captisn 
Jamison,  who  grants  us  the  priveleg*  of  ihi» 
issue 


The  First  "Wireless"  Newspaper. 


Close  on  the  heels  of  the  wireless  telegraph  comes  the  wireless 
telephone.  It  is  apparent  that,  as  the  Morse  code  is  received  by 
the  ear  at  the  telephone  in  the  wireless  system  of  telegraphy,  it 
must  be  mechanically  possible  to  make  the  sounds  of  the  human 
voice  reproduce  themselves  in  a  similar  way,  being  carried  by  the 
Hertzian  waves.  Wireless  telephony  is  yet  in  a  theoretical  stage ; 
but  Frederick  A.  Collins,  of  New  York,  has  developed  an  interest- 
ing system  that  promises  rich  results  in  the  near  future.  He  began 
experimenting  in  1900,  at  first  separating  his  instruments  by  only 
eight  or  ten  inches,  and  gradually  increasing  the  distance,  as  he 
learned  the  conditions  and  the  means  of  overcoming  obstacles,  until 
he  succeeded  with  stations  separated  by  several  miles.     He  obtains 


62  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

extreme  sensitiveness  in  his  receiver  by  multiplying  the  number  of 
diaphragms,  using  varied  thicknesses.     He  says : 

"  My  method  is  to  transform  a  direct  electrical  current  of  low  voltage  into  a 
current  of  high  potential,  being  approximately  20,000  volts.  The  current  is  also 
converted  into  an  alternating  discharge  of  high  mechanical  frequency.  When  a 
word  is  spoken  into  one  of  my  transmitters,  it  is  transformed  into  mechanical 
vibration  equalling  800  to  1000  per  second.  This  varies  the  current  which  is  then 
superimposed  on  the  alternating  current. 

"  I  have  found  that,  when  such  a  current  is  projected  simultaneously  into  the 
air  and  earth,  energy  is  propagated  through  space  by  the  ether  in  the  air  and  in 
the  earth.  The  distance  to  which  this  electrical  energy  is  transmitted  may  be 
thousands  of  miles,  but  heretofore  the  difficulty  has  been  to  find  an  instrument  of 
sufficient  sensitiveness  to  indicate  these  impulses.  I  have,  however,  overcome  this 
by  devising  a  most  sensitive  detector,  which,  in  connection  with  the  receiver, 
makes  it  possible  to  reproduce  audibly  the  voice  spoken  into  the  transmitter  with 
no  connection  other  than  the  elements  themselves." 

Mr.  Collins  made  successful  experiments  with  his  system  on 
ferry-boats  plying  between  New  York  and  Jersey  City,  but  became 
convinced  that  it  was  not  practical  for  any  considerable  distance. 

These  experiments  all  indicate  that  before  many  years  it  will 
be  common  to  accomplish  things  at  a  distance  by  means  of  wireless 
telegraphy  and  telephony  with  the  same  facility  that  we  now  em- 
ploy the  wires,  as  for  call-bells,  private  telephoning,  operating  stock 
tickers,  and  other  modern  conveniences.  The  day  when  space  is 
to  be  annihilated  is  nigh  at  hand.  Quoting  somewhat  freely  the 
words  of  an  eminent  London  engineer,  speaking  in  1897: 

"  We  are  gradually  approaching  a  time  when  if  a  person  wanted  to  call  to  a 
friend  he  knew  not  where,  he  would  call  in  a  loud,  electro-magnetic  voice,  heard 
by  him  who  had  the  electro-magnetic  ear,  silent  to  him  who  had  it  not.  '  Where 
are  you?'  he  would  say.  A  small  reply  would  come,  'I  am  at  the  bottom  of  a 
coal-mine,  or  crossing  the  Andes,  or  in  the  middle  of  the  Pacific'  Or,  perhaps, 
in  spite  of  all  the  calling,  no  reply  would  come,  and  the  person  would  then  know 
his  friend  was  dead.  Let  them  think  of  what  that  meant,  of  the  calling  which 
went  on  every  day  from  room  to  room  of  a  house,  and  then  think  of  that  calling 
extending  from  pole  to  pole ;  not  a  noisy  babble,  bvit  a  call  audible  to  him  who 
wanted  to  hear  and  absolutely  silent  to  him  who  did  not." 

In  quite  another  direction  the  experiments  in  wireless  teleg- 
raphy are  adding  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge.  Professor 
Thomas  Tommassina  has  demonstrated  that  the  human  body  is  a 
natural  receiver  for  wireless  telegraphy,  the  waves  affecting  the  brain 
so  that  it  becomes  a  coherer  and  automatically  decoheres  itself.  Mr. 
Collins,  the  inventor  of  the  wireless  telephone,  has  made  a  series 
of  tests  along  this  line,  which  suggest  some  scientific  basis  for  tele- 
pathic communication, — that  is,  the  transmitting  of  intelligence 
from  one  human  brain  to  another  without  visible  means  of  commu- 


MARCONI'S    VICTORY    OVER   THE   ETHER  63 

nication.  Mr.  Collins's  investigations  led  him  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  electric  waves  reaching  and  affecting  the  human  body 
caused  the  nerves  to  approach,  which  suggests  that  the  nerves  are 
largely  electrical  in  their  operation,  a  theory  held  by  many.  He  also 
proved  that  the  brain  acted  similarly  to  a  coherer  both  in  life  and 
after  death,  which  perhaps  accounts  for  the  familiar  experiment  of 
making  the  legs  of  a  dead  frog  twitch  by  applying  an  electric 
current  to  the  nerves.  Another  conclusion  of  Mr.  Collins  was  that 
the  fear  many  persons  evince  in  the  presence  of  a  thunder-storm 
is  not  due  to  cowardice,  but  to  the  fact  that  their  nerves  are  un- 
usually sensitive  to  electric  waves,  rendering  them  incapable  of 
obeying  normal  judgment  during  the  period  of  the  electrical  over- 
charge. 

Such  speculations  tend  to  lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that  man- 
kind is  destined  eventually  to  master  all  knowledge,  and  that  our 
present  learning  simply  enables  us  to  gain  a  glimpse  of  the  wealth 
of  wonderful  things  awaiting  discovery  by  those  who  study  Nature's 
laws,  and  seek  to  control  events  and  operations  by  placing  a  guiding 
hand  on  the  helm  of  the  Universe. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  IRON  AND  STEEL 

Unquestionably  the  iron  and  steel  industry  is  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  world,  not  only  in  volume  and  value  of  products,  but 
in  its  relations  to  other  industries  dependent  upon  the  manufacture 
of  ferric  materials.  Just  as  the  printing-press  is  essential  to  maintain 
education  and  spread  intelligence,  so  is  the  blast-furnace  recpisite 
to  the  supplying  of  the  means  for  carrying  on  nearly  all  other  exist- 
ing industries. 

We  could  exist  as  shepherds  or  hunters  or  fishers  without  iron ; 
Ave  could  build  houses,  after  a  fashion,  and  clumsy  boats,  like  the 
ancient  Norsemen;  but  we  should  have  to  deprive  ourselves  of 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  one  hundred  conveniences  now  deemed 
necessaries  if  we  should  undertake  to  do  without  iron — or  steel, 
which  is  simply  a  grade  of  iron  and  ought  not  to  have  a  distinct 
name. 

How  much  of  our  modern  civilization  is  due  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  iron  we  do  not  know ;  but  of  a  certainty  without  this  useful 
metal  we  should  be  reduced  to  a  state  approaching  barbarism.  All 
our  machines  are  made  of  iron,  and  if  they  w^ere  made  of  any  of 
the  softer  metals  they  would  not  only  cost  much  more,  but  would 
wear  out  so  soon  as  to  be  nearly  worthless.  Copper,  tin,  aluminum, 
nickel,  etc.,  are  all  very  well  for  certain  purposes,  but  those  who 
handle  them  and  work  in  them  know  that  for  the  purpose  of 
machine-building  they  would  be  little  better  than  so  much  wood. 

Without  machines  we  should  be  paddling  around  in  little  dug- 
outs, shooting  wooden  arrows  at  game,  or  tilling  the  soil  with 
wooden  plows,  like  the  natives  of  some  benighted  lands.  If  the 
world  were  called  upon  to  give  up  all  of  its  gold  and  diamonds 
or  all  of  its  iron  and  steel,  the  precious  stones  and  yellow  metal 
would  go  first  with  a  haste  equalled  only  by  the  strenuousness  of  the 
demand. 

Confining  ourselves  now  to  the  mere  production  of  iron  and 
steel,  let  us  see  what  it  means  to  the  United  States.  The  last  census 
shows  an  invested  capital  of  over  $600,000,000,  with  an  annual 
product  of  over  $800,000,000;  and,  notwithstanding  the  vast 
amount  of  work  performed  by  machines,  there  is  an  army  of  a 
quarter  of  a  million  men  employed  in  the  industry.  This  great 
business  is  confined  to  less  than  seven  hundred  establishments,  the 
number  being  less  than  it  was  twenty-five  years  ago,  owing  to  the 

64 


Iron  and  Steel  Manufacture. 
1.  Surface  iron  mine  in  Georgia.     2.  View  in  iron  region  of  Tennessee.     3.  Pig-iron  manufacture 
in  a  small  foundry.    4.  Blast-furnace  system  of  manufacturing  pig  iron  on  a  large  scale.    5.  Plugging 
furnace  with  clay-gun. 

5 


66 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


consolidation  of  firms  and  companies.  The  capital  invested  is  almost 
five  times  what  it  was  in  1870,  and  the  amount  of  wages  paid  is 
three  times  as  great ;  the  cost  of  materials  used,  which  was  one  and 
a  third  millions  in  1870,  increased  to  five  and  a  quarter  millions 
in  1900.     The  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Illinois  take  the 


End  View  of  Steel-Casting  Pit,  Bethlehem  Steel  Works. 

lead  in  this  industry  in  the  order  named,  Pennsylvania  contributing 
more  than  one-half  of  the  total,  though  employing  less  than  one- 
half  of  the  wage-earners.  Ohio  has  $86,000,000  invested  in  the 
industry,  and  Illinois  $43,000,000.  No  other  State  except  New 
Jersey  has  as  much  as  $20,000,000  invested  in  the  production  of 
iron  and  steel. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL  67 

The  growth  of  the  industry  as  measured  by  the  tons  of  metal 
produced  is  very  much  greater  than  when  measured  by  the  increase 
in  dollars;  in  1870  our  iron  and  steel  mills  turned  out  only  three 
and  a  quarter  million  tons,  while  in  1900  they  turned  out  almost 
thirty  million  tons,  an  increase  of  over  eight  hundred  per  cent. 
During  these  years  of  phenomenal  growth  the  cost  of  iron  and  steel 
to  the  consumers  was  very  much  reduced,  owing  to  the  installation 
of  labor-saving  machinery.  In  1870  the  average  price  of  iron  and 
steel  products  lumped  together  was  $63.49  per  ton;  in  1886  the 
figure  came  down  to  $45.70  per  ton,  in  1890  to  $29.43  per  ton,  and 
in  1900  to  $27.25  per  ton.  In  1895  the  price  was  less  than  in  1900, 
owing  to  depressed  commercial  conditions,  but,  leaving  this  fea- 
ture out  of  the  calculation,  it  will  be  seen  that  present  prices  are 
about  forty  per  cent,  of  what  they  were  thirty-five  years  ago. 

During  the  period  between  1890  and  1900  there  was  a  great 
movement  towards  consolidation  of  interests,  and  very  many  of 
the  establishments  began  to  operate  in  the  manner  popularly  known 
as  a  "  trust."  In  1900  there  were  fourteen  companies  which  owned 
or  operated  136  blast-furnaces,  having  an  annual  capacity  of  nearly 
12,000,000  gross  tons  of  pig  iron,  which  is  considerably  more  than 
half  the  product  of  the  whole  country ;  seven  companies  had  control 
of  41  Bessemer-steel  plants,  with  a  capacity  of  8,000,000  tons,  or 
seventy  per  cent,  of  the  capacity  of  the  whole  country ;  twelve  com- 
panies controlled  142  open-hearth  furnaces,  with  a  capacity  of  over 
3,370,000  tons  of  steel,  or  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  total  capacity  of 
the  country;  while  nineteen  companies  controlled  158  rolling-mills, 
with  a  capacity  of  16,500,000  tons  of  rolled  and  forged  iron  and 
steel,  or  over  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  total  capacity  of  the  country. 
From  this  it  is  apparent  that,  while  there  are  nominally  nearly 
seven  hundred  establishments  throughout  the  United  States  engaged 
in  the  production  of  iron  and  steel,  in  reality  some  twenty  companies, 
operating  under  mutual  ownership  or  agreements,  control  the  indus- 
try, so  as  to  be  able  to  dictate  to  the  public. 

One-half  of  the  capital  invested  in  the  industry  is  in  buildings, 
machinery,  and  tools,  and  the  other  half  in  land,  cash,  and  sun- 
dries, this  proportion  having  been  preserved  pretty  evenly  for  the 
past  twenty-five  years.  Almost  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  capital 
is  invested  in  rolling-mills  and  steel-works,  and  twenty-five  per  cent, 
in  blast-furnaces,  the  remaining  fraction  (about  one  per  cent.) 
being  in  forges  and  bloomeries.  This  last-mentioned  portion  of  the 
business  is  going  into  a  decline,  owing  to  changed  methods  of 
manufacture.     In   1900  twenty-nine  new  steel-works  and  rolling- 


68 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


mills  were  being  constructed,  and  five  new  blast-furnaces.     At  this 
date  (1904)  the  steel-mills  are  suffering  from  over-production. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  mills  and  furnaces  of  the 
United  States  consumed  thirty  million  tons  of  coal  and  coke  in 
1900,  this  being  nearly  double  the  amount  in  1890.  The  use  of  oil 
for  fuel  showed  a  decrease  in  this  industry  during  the  ten  years 
named,  there  being  1,300,000  barrels  used  in  1900.  Of  the  $67,- 
000,000  spent  annually  for  fuel,  one-tenth  is  expended  for  natural 


Courtesy  of  Fng-ineering  Maya,  ine 

Motor  Hauling  Reheated  Blooms  to  Rail  Mill. 

gas.  The  products  of  the  blast-furnaces  in  1900  amounted  to 
14,500,000  tons  of  castings,  including  spiegeleisen  and  ferroman- 
ganese ;  and  the  production  of  rolled  and  forged  iron  and  steel 
castings  by  the  rolling-mills  and  steel- works  in  1900  was  over 
15,000,000  tons.  Allegheny  County,  Pennsylvania,  produced  over 
8,000,000  tons  of  iron  and  steel  products  in  1900,  and  Cook  County, 
Illinois,  nearly  2,000,000  tons,  these  two  counties  furnishing  about 
one-third  the  entire  product  of  the  country. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


69 


George  Westinghouse,  speaking,  at  a  banquet  in  London,  of 
American  progress  in  steel-making,  said  in  part: 

"  An  illustration  of  what  has  been  accomplished  by  the  use  of  electricity  is 
seen  in  the  Homestead  mills  of  the  Carnegie  company,  where  they  produce  with 
about  4000  men  three  times  as  much  steel  as  the  Krupp  works  produce  with 
15,000  men.  The  results  are  simply  wonderful.  You  can  start  there  to-day,  in  a 
building  containing  steel-melting  furnaces,  and  you  will  there  see  three  men 
mounted  on  a  car  with  the  charging  apparatus  which  is  moved  and  operated  by 
electricity.  With  a  few  movements  of  this  ingenious  contrivance  three  men 
charge  twenty  furnaces,  which  prior  to  the  use  of  electricity  would  have  required 
the  labor  of  over  200  men. 


A  Steel-Bending  Machine. 

"  You  may  go  into  the  yard  of  the  Homestead  mills  where  they  pile  the  metal 
in  stock.  This  yard  is  covered  by  a  system  of  overhead  cranes,  and  the  result  is 
that  not  only  here,  but  in  the  mill,  and  in  every  other  place,  you  may  see  great 
weights  lifted  and  many  undertakings  going  on  without  a  single  man  exerting 
himself  a  bit — working  not  working  half  as  hard  as  I  am  working  now. 

"  I  took  some  English  friends  to  Homestead,  where  they  turn  out  750  tons  of 
plate  girders  per  day.  The  mill  was  in  the  shape  of  an  '  L.'  We  went  into  the 
short  end  of  the  '  L'  where  the  furnaces  were  fed  by  natural  gas,  of  course 
requiring  no  stokers.  The  end  at  which  we  entered  had  a  rather  low  roof,  and 
there  was  a  slight  contrivance  like  a  battering-ram  in  front  of  the  furnaces ;  two 
workmen  were  sitting  down  eating  their  dinners  near  by;  no  one  else  was 
present.  Apparently  the  mill  was  not  in  operation.  But  we  went  through  the 
mill,  which  was  about  200  feet  long ;    and  suddenly  heard  a  rattle  and  then  saw  a 


70  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

truck  approaching  loaded  with  a  big  ingot.  No  one  touched  the  truck  or  the 
ingot.  The  load  came  to  a  platform,  the  crane  overhead  dropped  a  pair  of  tongs 
and  quickly  put  the  ingot  on  the  roller-table,  and  as  it  moved  along  to  the  great 
rolls  it  was  automatically  kept  in  place.  The  adjusting  screws  of  the  rolls  were 
turned  by  little  electric  motors,  and  not  a  man  in  that  house  did  a  bit  of  work. 
It  was  just  as  easy  as  what  you  are  doing  now — looking  on!  We  went  back  to 
the  furnaces.  There  was  a  fifteen-year-old  boy  seated  in  a  little  place  called  the 
'  pulpit.'  He  was  able,  merely  by  the  movement  of  levers,  to  open  at  will  any  of 
the  furnace  doors  and  move  the  car  along.  And  we  saw  this  car  come  in  front  of 
a  furnace,  and  the  charging  machine  approach,  and  take  out  of  the  open  furnace 
a  hot  ingot  which  was  dropped  on  the  car  and  moved  ofif  to  its  work.  There  was 
this  boy  doing  absolutely  no  hard  work,  and  his  mill  was  turning  out  750  tons  of 
steel  plate  each  day.  My  English  friends  said,  '  England  has  no  chance  in  com- 
petition with  such  methods.' 

"  At  the  Carnegie  mills  we  went  to  see  three  blast-furnaces.  They  were 
making  1800  tons  of  pig-iron  in  twenty-four  hours.  We  saw  only  two  or  three 
men  on  a  truck  which  was  moved  automatically.  These  men  were  letting  the  ore 
run  from  shoots  and  mixing  it  in  the  required  quantity,  and  when  they  had  filled 
a  truck,  it  was  carried  up  and  its  contents  dumped  into  a  furnace,  whence  it 
returned  for  another  load.  They  were  running  the  metal  into  an  immense 
receptacle  into  which  the  metal  from  all  three  furnaces  was  mixed.  From  this 
place  the  metal  was  taken  as  required,  put  into  a  special  tank,  mounted  on  a  car 
and  taken  to  Homestead,  two  or  three  miles  away,  to  be  poured  into  the  furnaces ; 
one  heating  only  was  required. 

"  Now  all  this  sort  of  thing  came  about  in  America  because  of  our  necessities. 
We  hadn't  men  enough  to  do  our  work.  There  was  a  premium  in  favor  of  those 
who  could  invent  machines  to  work  and  thus  supply  the  deficiency." 

The  Carnegie  Steel-AVorks,  consisting  of  three  great  plants, — 
the  Edgar  Thomson,  the  Duquesne,  and  the  Homestead  Steel- 
Works, — are  all  located  in  Allegheny  County,  and  are  the  largest 
in  the  world ;  in  fact,  probably  no  other  plant  exceeds  any  one  of 
the  three.  The  Thomson  works  produce  700,000,000  tons  of  steel 
rails  in  a  year,  while  the  Duquesne  works  produce  the  same  quantity 
of  ingots,  and  the  Homestead  works  500,000  tons  of  Bessemer- 
steel  ingots  besides  1,500,000  tons  of  open-hearth  steel  ingots.  The 
foundry  at  the  Thomson  works  produces  over  50,000  tons  annually 
of  iron,  steel,  and  brass  castings.  The  Carnegie  Company  also  owns 
the  Upper  Union  vSteel-Mills,  having  seven  trains  of  rolls,  which 
produce  structural  steel,  plates  and  bars  to  the  amount  of  250,000 
tons  a  year,  while  the  Lower  Union  Steel-Mills  have  a  product  two- 
thirds  as  great.     The  company  also  owns  a  number  of  minor  works. 

As  compared  with  other  countries,  the  United  States  produces 
more  pig-iron  and  more  steel  than  Great  Britain  and  Germany 
combined,  our  output  of  each  being  over  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
world's  production.  No  other  country  besides  those  named  cuts  a 
large  figure  in  this  industry.  This  contrast  is  the  more  creditable 
to  the  United  States,  since  in  1874  we  produced  only  forty  per  cent, 
as  much  iron  and  steel  as  Great  Britain,  and  only  a  little  more  than 
Germany  or  France. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


71 


America's  supremacy  in  the  steel  and  iron  trade  comes  very 
largely  from  the  admirable  means  that  have  been  developed  for 
bringing  the  ore  from  the  Lake  Superior  mines  a  thousand  miles 
to  the  Pittsburg  factories,  without  any  real  handling  and  at  mini- 
mum cost.  The  reduction  of  this  cost  is  the  more  creditable  to 
those  concerned  because  the  ore  has  to  be  transshipped  twice  en 
route.  There  is  first  a  railway  journey  to  the  lake,  then  a  steamer 
trip,  and  then  a  railway  haul  of  150  miles  from  Lake  Erie  to  Pitts- 
burg. 

The  ore  from  the  Lake  Superior  mines  is  taken  by  rail  to  Du- 
luth,  where  the  cars  run  out  on  to  jetties  two  thousand  feet  long 


L'nloading  Ore  from  Steamboat  with  Brown  Conveyors. 

and  having  four  tracks  the  entire  length.  On  these  jetties  the  cars 
discharge  the  ore  simply  by  opening  bottom  doors  and  dropping 
it  into  huge  bins.  The  ships  are  loaded  by  allowing  the  ore  to 
slide  by  gravity  from  the  bins  into  the  holds,  thus  reducing  hand 
labor  to  a  minimum.  The  ships  have  numerous  hatchways,  and 
enormous  spouts  are  led  from  the  bins  to  the  several  hatchways 
of  a  vessel,  so  that  the  loading  is  done  in  a  very  brief  time.  Trim- 
ming machines  are  employed  to  smooth  out  the  ore  automatically, 
the  entire  operation  of  loading  being  very  simple  and  inexpensive. 

The  vessels  used  in  the  lake  traffic  carry  about  6000  tons  of 
ore,  and  some  of  them  are  500  feet  long,  being  almost  or  quite 


J2  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

as  commodious  as  the  average  tramp  steamer  used  on  the  Atlantic. 
Nowhere  else  in  the  world  are  such  large  boats  used  for  interior 
navigation.  These  boats  traverse  the  often  stormy  waters  of  Lake 
Superior  for  a  distance  of  about  400  miles,  passing  through  the 
famous  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal  to  Lake  Huron.  This  canal  with 
its  wonderful  locks  is  described  in  another  chapter.  It  is  because 
of  the  ore  carried  through  this  canal  that  its  tonnage  is  larger  than 
any  other  canal  in  the  world.  After  traversing  Lake  Huron  the 
vessels  pass  into  Lake  Erie  by  the  St.  Clair  Canal.  Most  of  the 
ore  which  does  not  go  on  to  Pittsburg  stops  at  Lorain,  where  is 
located  the  enormous  Johnson  steel-plant.  The  machinery  em- 
ployed here  for  landing  the  ore  consists  of  a  series  of  Brown  con- 
veyors, which  take  the  ore  direct  from  the  vessel's  hold  and  deposit 
it  in  the  stock-yard.  This  stock-yard  is  necessary  to  keep  the  plant 
supplied  during  the  months  when  the  ice  stops  the  lake  traffic.  The 
Brown  conveyor  is  a  ponderous  and  wonderful  machine,  consisting 
of  an  enormous  travelling  steel  bridge  of  a  width  of  about  400  feet. 
The  steel  supports  of  the  bridge  are  mounted  on  wheels  running 
on  heavy  tracks,  so  that  the  entire  structure  forms  not  only  a  bridge 
but  a  railway.  On  the  bridge,  in  a  sort  of  lookout  box,  is  a  man 
who  pulls  levers  and  thus  controls  the  whole  mechanism.  Wire 
ropes  running  over  pulleys  hoist  the  ore  in  buckets,  which  are  carried 
along  and  emptied  into  the  stock-yard,  virtually  without  hand  labor. 
To  see  eight  or  ten  of  these  conveyors  working  at  once  from  the 
hatchways  of  a  large  ship,  and  sending  out  the  ore  in  buckets,  weigh- 
ing three-quarters  of  a  ton  each,  at  almost  railroad  speed,  is  a  sight 
never  to  be  forgotten.  The  cost  of  unloading  at  Lorain  is  stated 
to  be  a  little  less  than  one  cent  per  ton.  One  of  the  largest  plants 
of  these  conveyors  is  at  the  Illinois  Steel  Company's  works  in 
South  Chicago,  where  there  are  nineteen  that  may  sometimes  be 
seen  all  working  at  once,  handling  ore  at  the  rate  of  fifty  tons  per 
hour  for  each  machine. 

The  Carnegie  Steel  Company  maintains  a  port  of  its  own  at 
Conneaut,  on  Lake  Erie,  from  which  it  operates  a  railway  to  the 
blast-furnaces  at  Pittsburg.  Since  there  are  no  passengers  or  mis- 
cellaneous freight  to  interfere  with  the  service,  the  line  is  worked 
expeditiously  and  economically,  and  the  cost  of  carrying  the  ore  is 
only  a  third  of  a  cent  per  ton-mile. 

In  1902  there  were  mined  in  the  United  States  over  35,000,000 
metric  tons  of  iron  ore,  valued  at  $1.84  per  ton,  or  nearly  $65,000,- 
000.  This  ore  produced  over  18,000,000  metric  tons  of  pig  iron^ 
worth  over  $289,000,000,  at  a  valuation  of  $16.19  per  ton. 


Edisnn's  Magnetic  Ore  Scparat'ii'.     Fnmi  nrigiiial  sketch  by  Mr.  iutisdii. 
The  attendant  shown  on  the  left  wears  a  filter  to  protect  his  lungs  from  the  dust. 


74  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

The  Edison  magnetic  concentrator  is  a  mechanism  for  sepa- 
rating the  undesirable  portions  of  iron  ore  from  the  rich  metal.  It 
receives  the  ore  in  masses  of  any  size  up  to  five-  or  six-ton  bould- 
ers. These  are  broken  up  between  the  enormous  crushing  rolls, 
being  reduced  to  small  fragments.  These  rolls  have  on  their  surface 
steel  knobs,  which  break  into  the  sides  of  large  stones  and  so  reduce 
them  before  they  are  carried  between  the  rolls.  When  the  ore  has 
been  reduced  to  a  fine  condition,  comparable  to  ordinary  sand,  it 
is  carried  by  conveyors  to  the  top  of  the  structure  and  allowed  to 
fall  through  a  narrow  crack  which  permits  it  to  descend  in  a  thin 
shower.  To  one  side  of  this  shower  is  placed  a  series  of  magnets, 
which  attract  those  falling  particles  that  are  rich  in  iron,  causing 
them  to  fall  into  a  different  receptacle  from  the  remainder  of  the 
sand  which  contains  no  iron.     (See  illustration.) 

The  United  States  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  small  ex- 
porter of  pig  iron.  Though  no  large  quantity  is  at  present  sent 
out  of  the  country,  yet  it  has  been  proved  that  it  can  be  sold  abroad 
for  about  $io  per  ton  at  a  profit,  despite  the  fact  that  it  has  to  be 
delivered  several  thousand  miles  away,  and  it  is  almost  certain  to 
be  sold  largely  whenever  there  is  a  depression  in  the  iron  trade  in 
America.  Such  large  furnaces  as  the  two  of  the  Tonawanda  Iron 
and  Steel  Company,  which  have  a  capacity  of  500  tons  each  per 
day,  are  not  going  to  be  allowed  to  stand  idle  when  the  home  de- 
mand for  iron  becomes  reduced.  A  good  deal  of  Tonawanda  iron 
has  already  been  shipped  to  Australia,  very  cheap  water  transpor- 
tation rates  being  obtained  by  v/ay  of  the  Erie  Canal. 

We  not  only  produce  pig  iron  cheaper  than  any  other  country, 
but  are  making  a  better  quality,  by  employing  casting  machines  in 
place  of  the  old  system  of  pouring  the  metal  direct  into  sand  moulds. 
The  Uehling  machine  is  one  of  the  most  favored ;  this  has  a  series 
of  moulds  strung  on  an  endless  chain,  and  these  are  carried  in 
rotation  under  the  flowing  stream  of  molten  iron.  After  the  pigs 
have  cooled  in  the  moulds,  they  are  usually  transferred  direct  to 
railway-cars  for  transportation.  A  somewhat  similar  machine  has 
been  introduced  by  R.  H.  Wainford  in  England,  but  has  not  made 
much  progress. 

Pig  iron  is  manufactured  in  blast-furnaces  in  which  the  crude 
iron  ore  is  mixed  with  the  coal  fuel,  limestone,  dolomite,  oyster- 
shells,  etc.  Coke  may  be  used  in  place  of  coal,  or  may  be  mixed 
w^ith  anthracite,  or  mixed  with  bituminous,  but  it  is  contrary  to 
United  States  practice  to  mix  anthracite  and  bituminous  in  the 
same  furnace.    The  blast-furnace  is  a  great  furnace  set  on  end,  and 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


75 


SO  arranged  that  air  can  be  blown  in  at  the  bottom,  up  through  the 
mass  of  iron,  fuel,  and  lime,  thus  causing  it  to  burn  rapidly,  and 
inducing  the  melting  of  the  iron,  which  is  drawn  off  at  the  bot- 
tom. There  has  been  great  improvement  in  the  details  of  construc- 
tion of  blast-furnaces,  and  in  the  proper  choice  of  fuel  and  flux, 
in  order  to  secure  the  desired  grades  of  iron.  Pig  iron  is  graded 
according  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  to  be  used,  as  Bessemer, 
basic,  foundry,  forge,  etc.  The  modern  blast-furnace  plants  are 
run  at  great  speeds  as  compared  wath  those  of  earlier  years,  and 
three  thousand  tons  per  week  is  not  now  considered  an  astonishing 


A  Solid  Ingot  of  Compressed  Steel  before  Boring. 


output  for  a  blast-furnace,  although  in  1879,  when  Edgar  Thomson 
secured  a  yield  of  650  tons  in  a  week,  this  was  held  as  a  remark- 
able record.  This  great  gain  in  the  speed  of  production  was  brought 
about  by  building  the  furnaces  so  as  to  stand '  increased  heat,  and 
applying  more  blast  to  hasten  the  melting.  The  rapid  driving  of 
furnaces  in  America  was  at  first  regarded  by  foreign  manufacturers 
as  a  ruinous  practice,  but  when  they  learned  that  our  furnaces 
stood  up  to  the  work,  they  gradually  began  to  imitate  our  methods. 
Designers  of  blast-furnaces  now  direct  their  attention  largely  to 
the  saving  of  fuel  while  maintaining  conditions  essential  to  rapid 
production. 


76  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

In  order  to  operate  a  blast-fnrnace  by  the  modern  forcing 
process,  there  has  been  devised  a  remarkable  machine  known  as 
the  clay-gun,  whose  purpose  is  to  stop  up  the  tap-hole  at  the  bottom 
of  a  blast-furnace  when  it  is  desired  to  stop  drawing  off  molten 
iron.  (See  5  of  the  illustration  of  "  Iron  and  Steel  Manufac- 
ture.") Since  the  mass  of  molten  iron  accumulated  in  the  bottom  of 
a  large  blast-furnace  has  great  pressure,  and  the  door  or  tap-hole 
has  to  be  stopped  with  clay,  as  an  iron  door  would  burn  out,  it  will 
be  understood  that  stopping  off  the  flow  of  melted  iron,  when  a 
pig-casting  machine  has  been  filled,  is  a  delicate  and  difiicult  process. 
The  clay  must  be  applied  promptly  and  in  large  quantities  with  con- 
siderable force.    The  clay-gun  does  this  by  firing  a  number  of  large 


Traiibfei  I  iiig  (.)re  from  one  Railway  lo  Aiiotlici. 

balls  of  clay  at  the  tap-hole  until  it  is  blocked,  steam  pressure  being 
used  for  the  discharge. 

An  English  expert,  who  described  the  operation  of  the  Car- 
negie Company's  blast-furnaces  at  Duquesne  for  the  London  Times, 
explains  their  operation  thus  graphically : 

"  The  Americans  make  a  deliberate  practice  of  driving  their  furnaces,  as  they 
expressively  put  it,  for  all  they  are  worth.  In  order  to  smelt  ironstone  the  ore, 
the  coke,  and  the  limestone  used  for  flux  are  charged  into  the  top  of  the  furnace. 
The  coke  burns,  the  iron  melts  out  from  the  ore,  and  the  waste  matter  combines 
with  the  limestone  to  form  the  product  known  as  slag.  What  is  the  exact  nature 
of  the  chemical  reactions  needed  to  produce  the  conversion  is  matter  of  contro- 
versy between  authorities ;  but  to  get  the  necessary  heat  for  these  reactions  a 
strong  blast  of  air  must  be  sent  through  the  furnace.  In  order  to  produce  this, 
blast-blowing  engines  of  enormous  power  are  used,  the  air  being  forced  in  at  the 
bottom  of  the  furnace  through  tuyeres,  or  short  iron  pipes,  which  are  kept  from 
melting  by  having  a  water  circulation.     The  Duquesne  engines,  of  which  there 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


77 


are  ten,  are  forty  feet  high.  They  have  cylinders  up  to  lOO  inches  in  diameter. 
Each  is  equal  to  the  power  that  can  be  exerted  by  1800  horses  and  each  will 
deliver  50,000  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute.  The  pressure  of  the  blast  is  equal  to 
fifteen  pounds  to  eighteen  pounds  on  the  square  inch,  and  it  is  raised  by  means  of 
enormous  stoves  using  the  waste  gases  from  the  furnaces  to  a  temperature  of 
2000°  Fah.  The  working  of  a  blast-furnace  never  stops.  Year  after  year,  from 
the  time  it  is  first  lit  or  '  blown  in,'  there  passes  down  its  fire-brick  throat  this 
constant  stream  of  ore,  coke,  and  flux — a  thousand  tons  a  day.  The  red-hot 
breath  from  the  blowing  engine  rushes  upward  and  meets  the  molten  stream 
without  ceasing,  until  at  last  the  mighty  digestion  is  worn  out,  after  gorging 
perhaps  a  million  tons,  and  the  furnace  is  blown  down  for  a  new  lining." 

The  molten  iron  drawn  from  the  bottom  of  a  blast-furnace  is 
run  into  sand  moulds  in  the  floor  and  becomes  pig  iron.     To  be 


Courtesy  Engineering  Magazine. 

Blooming-Mill,  Showing  Ingot  on  Buggy. 

used  as  cast  iron  the  pigs  require  simply  to  be  remelted  and  poured 
into  moulds,  but  in  order  to  make  wrought  iron,  that  can  be  ham- 
mered or  pressed  into  various  shapes,  the  pigs  require  to  be  treated 
in  a  puddling  furnace  so  as  to  burn  out  the  carbon  and  silicon.  Dur- 
ing the  time  it  is  melted  in  the  puddling  furnace  the  mass  is  stirred 
with  tools  in  order  to  release  the  carbon.  The  metal  that  comes 
from  the  puddling  furnace  is  usually  in  the  form  of  a  ball  called  a 
bloom,  which  requires  some  farther  squeezing,  rolling,  or  hammer- 
ing to  make  it  satisfactory  as  wrought  iron. 


78 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 


Turning  now  to  steel-making,  the  open-hearth,  or  Siemens- 
Martin,  type  of  furnace,  which  is  in  general  use,  has  been  compared 
to  an  overgrown  baker's  oven,  strapped  with  iron  bands.  Through 
the  door  of  one  of  the  larger  sizes,  when  open,  may  be  seen  a  blind- 
ing pool,  composed  of  perhaps  fifty  tons  of  molten  metal,  which  is 
as  difficult  to  look  directly  towards  as  to  view  the  sun  with  the 
naked  eye.  These  furnaces  are  usually  arranged  in  a  battery,  par- 
allel with  which  runs  a  railway  track,  upon  which  a  charging  plat- 
form is  mounted  on  wheels.  The  Wellman-Seaver  charging  ma- 
chine is  the  accepted  type;  this  consists  of  a  strong  platform  and 
framework,  carrying  a  charging-box  on  the  side  towards  the  fur- 


Wellman  Open-Hearth  Steel  Furnace. 

naces.  The  operator,  who  occupies  a  seat  upon  the  machine,  and 
controls  it  by  electrical  switches,  tips  the  charging-box  at  the  proper 
time,  pushing  it  directly  into  the  door  of  the  furnace  and  turning  it 
over.  The  furnace-doors  are  opened  by  hydraulic  mechanism,  which 
is  wholly  automatic,  the  one  man  on  the  machine  being  the  only 
attendant.  He  is  able  to  charge  a  half  ton  of  pig,  scrap,  or  ore, 
whichever  is  the  material  (for  all  are  used  in  producing  mild  steel), 
in  a  few  seconds'  time.  It  is  machinery  of  this  sort,  of  which  there 
is  so  much  in  the  modern  steel-works,  that  has  enabled  the  great 
corporations  to  pay  millions  upon  millions  of  dollars  In  annual  divi- 
dends, and  yet  at  the  same  time  sell  their  product  to  the  public  so 
low  as  to  distance  competition. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


79 


When  the  metal  in  an  open-hearth  steel-furnace  is  ready  to  be 
tapped,  it  is  drawn  off  from  the  side  opposite  to  that  on  which  it 
is  charged.  The  two  illustrations  show  Wellman  open-hearth  fur- 
naces, with  forehearths  attached,  one  furnace  being  tipped  to  pour- 
ing position.  The  molten  metal  runs  into  a  ladle,  from  which  it 
may  be  poured  into  moulds  to  form  ingots.  The  average  ingot  for 
rolling  into  plates  is  about  three  by  four  feet,  and  a  foot  thick,  and 
weighs  5000  pounds,  although  ingots  of  20,000  and  25,000  pounds 
are  not  uncommon,  as  in  making  armor-plate.  The  ingot-moulds 
are  placed  on  low  trucks  and  drawn  away  by  a  small  locomotive. 


Wellman  Open-Hearth  Furnace,  Tipped  for  Pouring. 

After  they  have  sufficiently  cooled,  the  sides  of  the  mould  are  pulled 
off  forcibly  by  a  hydraulic-cylinder  mechanism. 

The  American  practice  is  to  allow  the  ingots  to  cool,  and  then 
subject  them  to  a  reheating,  before  rolling  into  plates.  The  rea- 
son for  this  is  that  the  ingot  fresh  from  the  furnace  and  but  par- 
tially cooled  may  be  hard  enough  on  the  outside  to  be  rolled  while 
still  molten  inside.  No  one  can  know  positively  the  interior  con- 
dition, and  if  rolling  is  undertaken  it  sometimes  happens  that  the 
ingot  spurts  forth  great  streams  of  molten  metal  that  are  almost 
sure  death  to  any  one  whom  they  strike.  After  cooling  and  reheat- 
ing, the  outside  is  the  hottest  portion,  and  the  men  who  do  the 
roHing  know  exactly  the  condition  of  the  metal  they  are  handling. 
The  English  practice  is  different,  what  are  known  as  soaking  pits 


8o 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


being  employed,  in  which  the  ingot  is  partially  cooled  with  great 
slowness,  the  theory  being  that  the  sides  of  the  pit  reflect  back  the 
heat  upon  the  outside  of  the  ingot,  so  that  the  temperature  through- 
out the  whole  mass  is  pretty  nearly  the  same.  Soaking  pits  are 
used  to  some  extent  in  America. 


Courtesy  Engineering  Magazine. 


Soaking  Pits,  Showing  Electric  Tongs. 


Natural  gas  is  commonly  employed  in  the  open-hearth  regenera- 
tive furnaces  at  Pittsburg,  and  it  has  many  advantages  besides  that 
of  being  cheap.  Among  other  labor-saving  mechanisms  that  should 
be  mentioned  is  the  hydraulic  machinery  for  turning  ingots  in  the 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


8i 


reheating  furnaces;  also  another  form  of  the  Wellman  charging 
machine  used  for  charging  and  withdrawing  blooms  from  the  re- 
heating furnaces.  This  machine  picks  up  the  bloom  from  the 
reheating  furnace  automatically,  and  carries  it  to  the  rolling-mill, 


Tempering  a  Steel  Shaft  at  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works. 


where  it  is  fed  to  the  rollers.  The  magnetic  cranes  which  lift 
heavy  plates  by  magnetic  attraction,  saving  the  delay  of  attaching 
hooks  or  chains,  are  great  time-savers.  For  handling  heavy  plates 
at  the  shears  there  are  set  in  the  floor  a  lot  of  strong  rollers,  mounted 
hke  the  casters  of  a  chair,  only  that  the  roller  is  upward;    these 

6 


82  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

enable  a  man  to  handle  a  very  heavy  plate,  and  push  it  where  he 
pleases  with  very  little  effort. 

All  sorts  of  structural  steel  are  rolled  in  the  Pennsylvania  mills, 
I-beams  being  perhaps  the  most  common,  though  they  are  turned 
out  in  any  section  demanded  by  the  builders.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  the  steel-works  are  mostly  in  advance  of  the  builders  in 
the  matter  of  designing  and  laying  out  the  beams  for  steel  build- 
ings. It  is  said  that  one  concern  in  Pittsburg  employs  about  a 
hundred  draughtsmen,  whose  services  in  designing  steel  buildings 
are  practically  given  to  those  interested  to  assist  securing  large 
orders.  But  rolling  in  the  straight  and  rectangular  forms  required 
for  steel  buildings  is  child's  play  compared  with  the  cold  rolling 
of  steel  shafting  of  five  inches'  diameter  and  fifty  feet  in  length ; 
these  latter  are  produced  in  Pittsburg  with  an  accuracy  that  will 
not  vary  the  thousandth  part  of  an  inch. 

The  great  bulk  of  iron  and  steel  for  miscellaneous  uses  is  made 
in  the  rolling-mill.  A  billet  of  white-hot  metal  is  thrust  between 
stout  heavy  rollers,  which  squeeze  it  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is 
lengthened.  The  continuous  mills  now  universally  employed  carry 
the  hot  metal  from  one  set  of  rollers  to  another,  through  smaller 
and  smaller  openings,  until  reduced  to  the  desired  size,  when  the 
material  is  cut  into  lengths  of  perhaps  thirty  feet  for  convenient 
handling'.  George  Bedson,  of  Manchester,  England,  is  credited 
with  being  the  first  to  operate  successfully  a  continuous  mill.  Up 
to  his  time  a  fifty-pound  billet  was  about  the  largest  size  that  could 
be  easily  rolled,  while  to-day  billets  of  over  three  hundred  pounds 
are  handled  with  ease. 

The  first  continuous  rolling-mill  was  put  in  operation  in  the 
United  States  in  1869  by  the  Washburn  &  Moen  Company.  In  this 
mill  the  metal  was  passed  continuously  between  the  rolls  serpen- 
tine fashion,  coming  from  the  last  pair  of  rolls  at  whatever  size  the 
mechanism  determined.  Because  the  continuous  mill  called  for 
larger  billets,  furnaces  were  reconstructed  to  manufacture  them. 
In  the  course  of  time  they  developed  what  are  known  as  gas-fired 
furnaces,  in  which  the  heating  was  obtained  by  the  burning  of  a 
gas  obtained  by  the  distillation  of  coal.  Two  general  types  of  fur- 
nace came  into  use,  the  Ekman  continuous  furnace  and  Siemens 
regenerative  furnace.  Both  were  gas-fired,  and  both  economized 
fuel,  though  in  quite  different  ways.  The  development  of  the  sus- 
pended roof  furnace  was  brought  about  by  the  need  of  making  billets 
that  were  long  and  slim ;  a  billet  thirty  feet  long,  such  as  can  be 
produced  in  one  of-  these  furnaces,  is  much  better  than  one  of  the 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


83 


same  weight  fifteen  feet  long,  there  being  less  loss  from  oxidation, 
and  the  billet  being  more  uniform  throughout. 

The  continuous  mills  also  forced  improvements  in  reels,  and 
the  automatic  pouring  reel  was  produced,  also  the  whirling  pipe  reel. 
These  constructions  enabled  the  taking  up  of  the  hot  rods  and  pro- 
tected the  attendants  from  entanglement.  But  the  latest  and  most 
marked  improvement  in  rolling-mills  has  come  from  the  intro- 
duction of  the  fiying  billet-shear.  This  became  necessary  for  cut- 
ting off  lengths  of  bars  as  they  came  from  the  rolls,  because  the 
rolling  of  bars  several  hundred  feet  long  became  a  great  nuisance 


Fl\  iiiL,'^  Shear. 


in  handling.  The  flying  shear  is  a  machine  for  cutting  the  rod  of 
metal  while  it  is  moving  out  of  the  last  pair  of  rolls.  It  is  designed 
with  knives  mounted  upon  a  radial  arm,  and  moving  in  company 
with  the  metal  while  acting  upon  it.  After  a  cut  the  arm  returns 
to  its  first  position,  while  the  bar  of  rolled  metal  continues  to  run 
out,  and  applies  a  pressure  to  the  mechanism  of  the  shear,  actuating 
it  for  another  cut.  The  operation  of  the  shear  is  entirely  auto- 
matic, when  once  set  to  cut  a  certain  length.  The  production  of 
this  machine  called  for  considerable  ingenuity;  the  cutting  had  to 
be  done  in  a  small  fraction  of  a  second,  and  a  clear  passage  made 
for  the  oncoming  bar  of  metal,  the  cutting  blades  coming  back  to 
their  work  in  less  than  one  second'  for  the  next  cut.     The  machine 


84 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


had  to  be  a  heavy  one,  as  many  of  the  bars  to  be  cut  are  quite  thick. 
The  accompanying  illustration  affords  a  fair  idea  of  an  up-to-date 
flying  shear,  manufactured  by  the  Morgan  Construction  Company. 


Large  pieces  of  iron  for  use  in  machines  are  made  principally 
by  casting,  and  if  an  extra  quality  is  demanded  the  casting  is  done 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL  85 

under  pressure.  The  more  that  iron  is  worked  and  compressed, 
the  stronger  and  tougher  it  becomes,  and  during  recent  years  it  has 
been  proved  that  the  best  forging  can  be  accomphshed  by  heavy 
pressure  apphed  during  the  cooHng,  this  method  now  largely  re- 
placing forging  by  hammer  for  all  large  forgings.  The  last  genera- 
tion gloried  in  the  steam-hammer  as  a  wonderful  tool  for  manu- 
facturing large  shafts,  or  other  parts  requiring  to  be  made  of 
wrought  iron  or  steel,  but  the  modern  hydraulic  press  is  rapidly 
putting  the  steam-hammer  out  of  business. 

The  great  Whitworth  armor-plate  press  here  illustrated  was 
installed  in  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company's  works  in  1893,  and  is 
capable  of  delivering  7000  pounds  of  hydraulic  pressure  per  square 
inch.  Steel  plates  made  in  such  a  press  acquire  a  uniformity  of 
structure  that  has  never  been  attained  by  any  previous  process. 

All  steel  is  iron,  differing  only  in  containing  a  larger  percent- 
age of  carbon,  usually  with  a  small  quantity  of  silicon  and  man- 
ganese, and  often  with  a  small  percentage  of  some  other  metal, 
indicated  by  a  qualifying  name,  as  nickel-steel.  The  carbon  gives 
the  steel  the  ability  to  harden  when  cooled  suddenly,  the  process 
being  termed  tempering. 

What  is  now  known  as  mild  steel,  or  soft  steel,  is  a  product 
that  stands  between  wrought  iron  and  the  hardest  steels,  as  those 
used  for  making  cutting  tools.  This  mild  steel  has  largely  taken 
the  place  of  wrought  iron  and  is  used  in  the  construction  of  steel 
buildings,  elevated  railways,  and  the  like.  It  is  produced  at  the 
same  cost  as  wrought  iron  and  is  materially  stronger.  Steel  cast- 
ings in  many  instances  are  replacing  iron  castings  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  machines,  being  considerably  stronger,  thus  enabling  the 
machines  either  to  have  a  greater  strength  and  a  longer  life  or  to 
be  reduced  in  weight. 

Hard  steel  is  largely  manufactured  by  the  Bessemer  process 
introduced  in  England  fifty  years  ago.  The  work  is  done  in  a 
converter,  which  is  an  enormous  bottle-like  vessel,  having  a  steel 
shell  lined  with  some  refractory  heat-resisting  material.  This  great 
vessel  is  mounted,  slightly  above  its  centre,  on  two  great  trunnions, 
so  that  it  can  be  tipped.  This  converter  is  partially  filled  with 
molten  cast  iron,  through  which  streams  of  air  are  discharged  under 
pressure;  this  results  in  the  air  uniting  with  the  carbon  and  silicon 
and  burning  them  out.  When  the  proper  moment  arrives,  which 
has  to  be  nicely  judged,  the  blast  of  air  is  stopped,  and  the  con- 
verter is  supplied  with  a  quantity  of  ferro-manganese  or  spiegel- 
eisen,  for  the  purpose  of  removing  the  sulphur  and  oxide  of  iron 


Whitworth  Armor-Plate  Press. 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL  8/ 

with  which  these  unite,  after  which  the  converter  is  emptied  of  its 
contents,  which  have  now  become  molten  steel. 

It  was  formerly  the  custom  to  reheat  the  metal  for  converting 
in  the  Bessemer  process;  but  American  steel  manufacturers  were 
quick  to  stop  the  waste  labor  involved.  They  devised  the  direct 
method,  in  which  the  molten  metal  drawn  from  the  blast-furnace 
is  poured  into  what  are  known  as  slag  bogies,  which  are  loaded 
on  a  train  and  carried  to  the  converters.  Sometimes  the  molten 
metal  is  carried  in  this  way  for  surprising  distances,  as  at  the 
Carnegie  works,  where  the  blast-furnaces  are  on  one  side  of  the 
Monongahela  River  and  the  converting  plant  is  on  the  other,  and 
at  Duquesne,  where"  a  part  of  the  blast-furnace  product  is  car- 
ried four  miles.  It  is  a  startling  sight  to  see  a  train  laden  with 
the  bogies  of  blazing  hot  metal,  and  one  humorist  on  seeing  it  ex- 
claimed, "  Hell  is  going  on  a  journey!" 

Malleable  iron  castings  began  to  come  into  use  about  1880, 
originating  in  the  United  States,  and  are  now  sold  over  the  entire 
civilized  world.  To  understand  their  value  one  must  know  the 
practical  difference  between  cast  iron,  wrought  iron,  and  steel. 
Cast  iron  is  brittle,  being  hard  like  glass,  but  will  not  bear  heavy 
pounding,  and  will  break  before  it  will  bend ;  wrought  iron  is  duc- 
tile, and  can  be  hammered  into  all  sorts  of  shapes,  even  when  cold ; 
steel  can  also  be  hammered  and  drawn,  especially  when  heated, 
but  when  tempered  by  sudden  cooling  it  becomes  brittle.  Malleable 
iron  occupies  a  place  between  cast  iron  and  wrought  iron;  while 
it  is  cast,  it  will  also  bear  pounding  and  will  bend,  in  some  cases 
nearly  as  much  as  wrought  iron.  This  malleable  quality  in  cast- 
ings is  produced  by  treatment  in  an  annealing  furnace.  The  great 
convenience  of  being  able  to  cast  a  part  of  a  machine  according 
to  any  shape  that  can  be  made  with  a  pattern,  and  yet  give  the 
casting  almost  the  toughness  of  wrought  iron,  has  opened  up  a 
great  field  for  malleable  castings.  Among  other  things,  they  are 
used  for  railway  couplers.  Of  recent  years,  however,  steel  castings 
have  taken  the  place  of  malleable  castings  for  many  purposes. 

The  forming  of  castings  of  iron  constitutes  an  important  part 
of  the  iron  industry.  By  far  the  greatest  number  of  parts  of 
machines  are  made  of  cast  iron,  although  cast  steel  is  coming  con- 
siderably into  use.  The  method  of  making  castings  consists  in 
first  cutting  or  shaping  a  pattern  of  the  article  to  be  formed  in 
wood,  and  with  this  pattern  forming  a  sand  mould,  into  which 
the  molten  iron  is  poured,  thus  taking  the  shape  of  the  original 
pattern.     In  order  that  the  sand  may  retain  the  desired  form  or 


88  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

shape,  it  is  tempered  or  mixed  with  sticky  material.  For  making 
simple  castings  a  two-part  mould  is  used.  Imagine  a  box  like  a 
suit-case,  each  half  being  filled  with  sand  which  has  been  stiffened 
by  a  sticky  admixture  so  that  it  will  stay  in  the  position  where  it 
is  put.  Then  let  us  suppose  that  a  dumb-bell  is  embedded  half-way 
in  one-half  of  the  case,  and  then  that  the  case  be  closed  so  that  the 
other  half  is  likewise  indented  in  the  sand.     If  then  the  suit-case 


A  Steel  Ingot  at  the  Bcthkhem  Works. 


box  is  opened  and  the  dumb-bell  taken  out,  and  a  small  hole  or 
holes  formed  in  the  sand  to  connect  the  cavity  where  the  dumb-bell 
was  with  the  outside,  the  box  or  suit-case  may  be  closed,  and  the 
hot  metal  poured  in  through  the  small  hole  until  it  fills  the  cavity 
and  thus  reproduces  the  dumb-bell. 

The  casting  of  more  complicated  forms,  of  course,  involves 
more  labor.  Take,  for  instance,  the  moulding  of  a  length  of  iron 
pipe,  of  which  an  illustration  is  here  presented.     The  centre  or 


THE    KINGDOM    OF    IRON    AND    STEEL 


89 


core,  which  may  be  of  iron,  is  wound  around  with  a  straw  rope,  E, 
in  order  to  afford  a  grip  for  the  tempered  sand  and  clay  which  are 
packed  around  it.  This  core,  C,  being  accurately  centred  in  a  base- 
plate, B,  an  outer  flask,  A,  is  placed  around  it,  having  a  coating  of 
tempered  sand  and  clay,  J,  so  formed  that  it  may  shape  the  outer  side 
of  the  pipe  to  be  cast.    When  the  parts  are  in  proper  position,  there  is 


Cross-Section  of  Mould  for  Iron  Pipe. 

a  space  of  perhaps  half  an  inch  between  the  core  and  the  flask  into 
which  molten  metal  may  be  poured  to  form  the  length  of  pipe. 
Before  pouring,  a  top  ring,  F,  is  put  in  place  to  hold  the  core  and  flask 
solidly  in  position,  and  the  sides  of  the  flask  are  clamped  so  that 
there  may  be  no  slipping  or  shifting  of  the  parts  while  the  metal  is 
cooling.  When  the  metal  is  sufficiently  cooled,  the  flask  is  taken 
apart  and  may  be  used  again. 

America's  advanced  position  in  the  industrial  world  is  largely 


90 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


owing  to  her  taking  the  lead  in  iron  and  steel  manufactures. 
Whether  she  can  maintain  the  place  she  has  gained,  history  alone 
can  determine.  Manufactures  of  iron  and  steel  now  constitute  the 
third  largest  item  which  we  export,  being  exceeded  only  by  cotton 
and  pork.  In  the  year  ending  June  30,  1903,  we  exported  nearly 
$97,000,000  worth  of  iron  and  steel  manufactures,  and  probably 
the  $100,000,000  mark  will  be  reached  before  1905 ;  but  only  while 
we  continue  to  build  better  and  cheaper  machinery  than  other  na- 
tions can  such  a  condition  continue. 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    THE    AIR 

Fifty  years  ago  the  opinion  was  prevalent  that  progress  in 
aeronautics  had  reached  its  practical  limit,  that  the  balloon  was  a 
dangerous  toy  of  no  real  utility,  and  that  man  must  leave  the  navi- 
gation of  the  air  to  the  birds,  and  be  satisfied  with  locomotive  speeds. 
But  even  at  that  date  there  were  a  few  men  who  knew  better,  and 
who  realized  that  what  a  bird  could  do  should  be  done  also  by  man, 
and  that  a  study  of  the  soaring  vulture  and  the  darting  humming- 
bird must  yield  knowledge  that  eventually  would  lead  to  travelling 
in  the  air.  There  is  a  sense  of  incompetency  in  watching  a  swift- 
flying  pigeon  circling  away,  and  in  a  brief  moment  disappearing  as 
a  minute  speck  on  a  fleeting  cloud.  To  believe  that  this  creature  is 
inherently  more  capable  than  man  is  to  deny  the  superiority  of  human 
intelligence  over  brute  sagacity. 

Within  the  last  decade  experimenters  have  proved  beyond  a 
doubt  that  flying  is  not  beyond  man's  ability,  and  that  there  are 
several  methods  of  aerial  locomotion,  each  having  some  advantages. 
The  study  of  the  nature  of  the  air  and  of  balancing  have  proved 
quite  as  important  as  the  determination  of  means  of  support.  In- 
vestigators in  all  parts  of  the  world,  w^orking  on  different  lines  and 
theories,  have  added  so  much  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge  that 
one  may  now  almost  set  a  date  when  sky-sailing  will  be  as  popular 
as  automobiling  is  to-day. 

The  highest  authorities  on  the  subject  are  the  most  positive  and 
•definite  in  their  prophecies  as  to  the  future  of  aerial  navigation. 
Santos  Dumont  says,  "  An  air-ship  the  length  of  the  Deutschland, 
•constructed  with  the  proportions  of  my  No.  6,  would  transport  looo 
voyagers  of  my  own  weight,  with  a  sufficiently  powerful  motor  and 
the  necessary  petroleum,  from  New  York  to  Havre  in  two  days." 
Lawrence  Hargrave  has  expressed  himself  in  quite  as  plain  terms, 
regarding  the  future  as  certain  of  quick  development,  because  of  the 
continued  advance  of  knowledge  of  the  conditiotis  requisite  to  flight. 
Hiram  Maxim  is  also  an  enthusiastic  believer  in  the  future  of  me- 
chanical flight,  and  so  are  Octave  Chanute,  Carl  E.  Myers,  and  many 
others  qualified  to  speak  from  experience.  Professor  S.  P.  Langley 
is  more  conservative  in  his  utterances ;  but  it  is  easy  to  read  between 
the  lines  of  his  carefully  worded  writings  that  he  too  considers  that 
the  conquest  of  the  air  has  practically  begun  and  is  near  a  real 
accomplishment. 

91 


92 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  modern  theories  that  have  led  to  the  conviction  that  air 
travel  will  be  practical  in  the  near  future  are  based  on  experiments 
that  prove  that  the  conditions  are  now  so  nearly  understood  that  it 


is  simply  a  matter  of  perfecting  knowledge  of  known  laws,  and 
arranging  details  of  mechanism,  to  secure  practical  flying-machines 
for  aerial  navigation.  While  the  dirigible  balloon  has  met  with  the 
most  apparent  success  up  to  this  time,  yet  the  building  and  trying  of 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR  93 

aeroplane  machines  probably  has  added  more  to  man's  knowledge 
as  to  the  conditions  of  artificial  flight. 

All  the  essential  features  of  a  successful  flying-machine  having 
been  worked  out  by  the  different  investigators,  each  in  his  own  way 
proving  that  such  and  such  things  can  be  done  in  actual  practice,  it 
only  remains  to  put  all  the  good  results  into  one  machine,  and  per- 
fect its  weaknesses,  and  the  world  will  have  a  practical  air-ship.  Let 
us  hope  that  the  date  of  realization  will  not  be  delayed  by  reason  of 
patent  disputes  and  quarrels  as  to  who  invented  this  or  that.  When 
the  successful  air-ship  comes,  it  will  not  be  the  work  of  one  brain, 
but  of  the  hundreds  that  have  studied  the  problems  of  flight. 

He  who  would  navigate  the  air  must  have  special  regard  for 
the  following  points : 

1.  Supporting  pozvcr.  For  this  aeronauts  depend  on  gas-bags, 
parachutes,  and  canvas  imitations  of  wings,  called  aeroplanes. 

2.  Ability  to  balance  and  niaintain  equipoise.  To  secure  this, 
the  weight  is  adjusted  at  the  lower  part  of  the  structure,  and  four- 
vaned  rudders  are  employed,  also  gyrostatic  devices.  The  placing 
of  one  aeroplane  above  another  in  series  has  also  been  found  to  give 
stability  in  the  air. 

3.  Motive  power  of  sufficiently  light  zveight.  The  most  satis- 
factory power  found  thus  far  has  been  the  petroleum  engine,  of  the 
type  used  in  automobiles,  but  lightened,  usually  very  near  to  the 
danger-point  of  breaking. 

When  Hiram  Maxim's  flying-machine  in  1894  developed  lifting 
power,  and  broke  itself  in  its  efforts  to  fly  away  from  the  track  that 
held  it  down,  Mr.  Maxim  said,  "  Propulsion  and  lifting  are  solved ; 
the  rest  is  a  mere  matter  of  time."  Notwithstanding  this  strong 
utterance,  the  balancing  problem,  that  was  then  unsolved,  remains 
a  serious  difficulty.  It  is  much  harder  than  any  sort  of  balancing 
with  which  man  is  familiar,  as  on  the  bicycle,  or  the  sailing  yacht, 
or  with  the  kite,  and  a  tumble  is  apt  to  mean  death  to  the  tumbler. 
Once  the  air-ship  is  afloat,  she  is  in  only  one  medium,  and  that  of 
great  tenuity,  and  as  uncertain  and  vagarious  in  its  action  as  it 
is  possible  to  conceive. 

Professor  S.  P.  Langley  added  much  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
uncertainty  of  aerial  conditions  in  his  contribution  to  science  entitled 
"  The  Internal  Work  of  the  Wind."  It  was  shown  that  a  wind 
rated  at,  say,  thirty  miles  an  hour  proved,  under  test  by  a  specially 
accurate  wind-gauge  of  his  construction,  to  fall  for  short  periods  to 
less  than  half  that  speed,  and  then  to  rise  far  above  it  for  an  instant. 
In  short,  the  ordinary  wind-gauge  registers  only  the  average  or 


94 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


mean  rate  at  which  the  wind  blows,  whereas  in  reahty  it  is  always 
inconstant,  both  in  force  and  direction. 

Investigators  in  the  aerial  field  have  approached  the  subject  from 
different  directions.  There  have  been  the  soarers  or  gliders,  of 
whom  the  lamented  Lilienthal  was  the  first;  then  the  kite-flyers, 
of  whom  Hargrave,  Eddy,  Lamson,  and  the  experts  of  the  United 
States  Weather  Bureau  have  been  in  the  lead;  then  the  dirigible 
balloon  experimentalists,  of  whom  Dumont  in  France  and  Myers  in 
the  United  States  have  been  at  the  fore;  lastly,  the  aeroplanists,  or 
users  of  power-driven  sailing-planes,  of  whom  Maxim  and  Langley 
have  been  the  undisputed  leaders,  while  the  Wright  brothers  must 
now  be  classed  with  them. 

THE    SOARERS    OR    GLIDERS. 

Dr.  Otto  Lilienthal  solved  the  problem  of  what  he  termed 
soaring  flight,  and  died  a  martyr  to  his  love  of  science.  His  gliding 
machine  was  a  surface  equivalent  to  large  broad  wings,  which  he  held 


Lilienthal's  Soaring  Apparatus. 

at  the  level  of  his  armpits,  and  then,  running  a  few  steps  against 
the  wind  from  a  hill-top,  picked  up  his  feet  and  floated  or  glided 
along,  supported  by  the  air,  in  a  gradually  descending  course  to  the 
foot  of  the  hill.  His  longest  flight  made  in  this  way  was  1200  feet, 
and  he  often  rose  to  a  height  of  fifty  or  more  feet  from  the  ground, 
and  might  have  risen  higher  had  he  faced  stronger  winds,  for  it  was 
demonstrated  that  the  stronger  the  wind  the  greater  the  lifting  power 
of  the  planes  or  wings. 

Just  as  Dr.  Lilienthal  began  to  feel  that  he  could  navigate  with 
some  certainty,  having  made  some  2000  glides,  and  as  he  was  learn- 
ing to  circle  a  little,  on  August  11,  1896,  he  was  caught  by  a  gust 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE    AIR 


95 


of  wind,  carried  up  unexpectedly,  lost  control  of  the  wings  and  his 
balance,  and  fell  to  the  ground  fatally  injured. 

Percy  S.  Pilcher  tried  similar  experiments  with  some  success, 
until  he  too  came  to  his  death  by  an  untimely  fall.    The  four  views 


W     g 


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here  g-iven  of  Pilcher's  machine  show  its  construction  and  operation 
quite  clearly. 

Several  gliding  machines  were  built  by  Octave  Chanute,  in  an 
endeavor  to  improve  on  Lilienthal's  apparatus.  Some  of  these  had 
multiple  wings  or  planes.  In  these  he  arranged  for  the  aviator  to 
sit  still  and  maintain  the  balance  by  shifting  the  wings.     He  very 


96 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


wisely  practised  making  short  glides  at  low  speeds.  During  1896 
he  built  and  experimented  with  five  different  machines,  making  about 
a  thousand  glides  from  a  sand-hill  on  the  edge  of  Lake  Michigan, 


r^       : 

V  ■?!:?' 

about  thirty  miles  from  Chicago.  His  best  results  were  secured  with 
a  two-surfaced  machine.  The  hill  was  so  low  that  he  could  seldom 
glide  over  300  feet,  which  distance  was  covered  ordinarily  in  about 
twelve  seconds.     The  stop  was  accomplished  just  as  a  bird  stops, 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE    AIR 


97 


by  tilting  the  wings  almost  at  right  angles  to  the  direction  of  the 
glide,  thus  using  the  air  as  a  cushion. 

Chanute,  Hering  and  others  who  assisted  him  never  met  with 
any  serious  accidents,  partly  because  they  were  fortunate,  and  partly 
because  they  avoided  strong  winds,  the  fastest  of  their  experience 
being  thirty  miles  an  hour.  On  one  occasion,  however,  when  four 
men  were  carrying  one  of  the  machines,  a  sudden  gust  picked  it  up 
and  conveyed  the  four  to  a  height  of  about  a  hundred  feet,  which 
was  much  more  gratifying  as  an  exhibit  of  lifting  power  than  it 
was  satisfactory  to  their  sense  of  personal  safety.  Their  combined 
weight  brought  the  apparatus  down  very  shortly  without  undue  jar 
to  any  of  them,  but  it  taught  a  lesson  of  caution  that  they  could  not 
soon  forget. 


Tlie  Whitehead  Aeroplane. 

One  of  the  latest  of  the  enthusiasts  in  the  soaring  field  is 
Gustave  Whitehead,  of  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  who  has  devised 
several  soaring  apparatuses,  one  of  which  is  shown  in  the  illustration. 
Having  studied  this  system  of  flight  for  many  years,  and  taking 
warning  from  the  fatal  accidents  of  others.  Whitehead  arranged  his 
experiments  so  as  to  do  all  his  soaring  close  to  the  ground.  When 
his  planes  were  properly  adjusted,  an  assistant  was  sent  ahead  with 
a  light  rope,  which  he  pulled  after  the  manner  of  a  kite-string 
When  sufficient  speed  was  attained,  the  aviator  could  tilt  the  planes 
slightly  upward,  rising  from  the  ground,  and  skimming  along 
slightly  above  the  surface.  The  balancing  of  the  aeroplanes  is  ac- 
complished by  shifting  the  body  much  after  the  fashion  of  Lilienthal. 

In  Whitehead's  three-deck  machine  the  aeroplanes  are  located 
three  feet  apart,  and  are  a  foot  in  width  and  sixteen  feet  long. 

7 


98 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  frame  is  of  spruce  wood  covered  with  mushn  and  braced  with 
wires.  The  four-sided  rudder  assists  the  steering.  After  experi- 
menting with  the  apparatus  and  learning  that  it  would  carry  more 
than  his  weight,  Mr.  Whitehead  attached  a  light  motor  of  twelve- 
horse  power  to  the  lower  aeroplane.  The  propeller  driven  by  the 
motor  was  placed  in  front  of  the  aeroplane,  so  as  to  pull  instead 
of  pushing.  Experiments  with  this  machine  were  sufficiently  satis- 
factory that  another  is  being  built. 

All  the  soarers,  gliders,  and  aeroplanists  have  been  outdone 
by  the  Wright  brothers,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  who  on  December  17, 
1903,  succeeded  in  making  the  first  successful  flight  in  an  aerostat 
that  was  not  supported  by  a  gas-bag  or  balloon.     On  that  date  Wil- 


Wright  Brothers'  Aerostat. 
I.  The  aerostat  in  flight,  showing  position  of  the  motor  and  propeller.    2.  The  start.    3.  Diagram 
showing  construction  and  operation  of  the  machine — U,  upper  surface;  R,  rudder  or  movable  tail; 
F  F,  main  uprights  of  frame;  L  R,  lifting  and  lowering  rudder ;  L,  lower  surface;  O,  operator;  P, 
propeller;  L  P,  lifting  and  lowering  propeller;  S,  seat  of  absolute  control. 

bur  Wright  flew  half  a  mile,  near  Kitty  Hawk,  North  Carolina, 
in  the  two-decked,  motor-driven  machine  developed  by  himself  and 
his  brother,  which  is  here  illustrated.  Their  successful  machine  was 
really  an  aeroplane,  and  might  be  classed  under  that  heading,  but, 
as  it  grew  out  of  a  soaring  device,  it  is  included  under  this  head. 

The  story  of  their  success  is  best  told  in  Wilbur  Wright's  own 
words,  as  cjuoted  in  the  Scientific  American: 

"The  difficulties  which  we  faced  were  to  be  classed  in  three  groups, —  (i) 
those  which  relate  to  the  construction  of  the  sustaining  wings,  (2)  those  relating 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR  99 

to  the  generation  and  application  of  the  power  required  to  drive  the  machine 
through  the  air,  and  (3)  those  which  relate  to  the  balancing  and  steering  of  the 
machine  after  it  is  actually  in  flight. 

"  My  own  active  interest  in  aeronautical  problems  dates  back  to  the  death  of 
Lilienthal,  in  1896. 

"  We  figured  that  Lilienthal  had  in  five  years'  time  spent  only  five  hours  in 
the  air,  yet  Lilienthal,  with  this  brief  practice,  was  remarkably  successful  in  meet- 
ing the  fluctuations  and  eddies  of  wind  gusts.  It  seemed  feasible  to  practise  by 
the  hour,  instead  of  the  second,  by  building  a  machine  which  would  be  sustained 
at  a  speed  of  eighteen  miles  an  hour  and  then  finding  a  locality  where  winds  of 
this  velocity  were  common.  With  these  conditions  a  rope  attached  to  the  machine 
to  keep  it  from  floating  back  with  the  wind  would  give  us  the  same  results  as  if 
we  had  a  machine  driven  forward  by  a  motor  in  a  calm. 

"  We  found,  according  to  the  accepted  Lilienthal  tables  of  air  pressure  on 
curved  surfaces,  that  we  would  need  a  machine  spreading  two  hundred  square 
feet  and  that  winds  of  the  sort  we  wished  were  common  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 
When  the  winds  were  low,  it  was  our  plan  to  glide  from  the  sand-hills. 

"  After  much  study,  we  concluded  that  tails  of  size  were  an  impediment. 
Also  it  seemed  reasonable  that  if  the  body  of  the  operator  could  be  placed  hori- 
zontally only  one  square  foot  instead  of  five  would  be  exposed  to  the  wind. 
Pilcher,  Lilienthal,  and  Chanute  had  been  upright. 

"  Then  the  method  of  control  used  by  Lilienthal,  which  consisted  in  shifting 
the  body,  did  not  seem  quick  or  effective  enough ;  so,  after  long  study,  we  con- 
trived a  system  consisting  of  two  large  surfaces  on  the  Chanute  double-decked 
plan,  and  a  smaller  surface  placed  directly  in  front  at  a  short  distance  in  such 
a  position  that  the  action  of  the  wind  upon  it  would  counterbalance  the  effect  of 
the  travel  of  the  centre  pressure  on  the  main  surface. 

"  Thus,  changes  in  the  direction  and  velocity  of  the  wind  would  have  little 
disturbing  effect,  and  the  operator  would  be  required  to  attend  only  to  the  steering 
of  the  machine,  which  was  to  be  effected  by  the  curving  of  the  forward  surface, 
up  or  down.  At  that  time  the  lateral  equilibrium  and  the  steering  to  right  or 
left  was  to  be  attained  by  a  peculiar  torsion  of  the  main  surfaces,  equivalent  to 
presenting  the  wings  of  one  end  to  the  wind  at  a  greater  angle  than  the  others. 

"  With  these  plans  we  proceeded,  in  the  summer  of  1900,  to  Kitty  Hawk, 
North  Carolina,  a  little  settlement  located  on  the  strip  of  land  that  separates 
Albemarle  Sound  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Owing  to  the  impossibility  of  obtain- 
ing suitable  material  for  a  two  hundred  square  foot  machine,  we  were  compelled 
to  make  it  only  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  square  feet.  On  the  very  day  that  our 
machine  was  completed,  the  wind  blew  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  miles  per  hour, 
and  we  took  it  out  for  a  trial  as  a  kite. 

"  We  found  that  while  it  was  supported  with  a  man  on  it  in  a  twenty-five 
mile  wind  the  angle  was  nearer  twenty  degrees  than  three ;  so  we  turned  our 
attention  to  measuring  the  lift  and  drift  of  the  machine  under  various  loads.  The 
results  obtained  were  most  astonishing.  It  appeared  that  the  total  horizontal  pull 
of  the  machine  while  sustaining  a  weight  of  fifty-two  pounds  was  only  8.5  pounds, 
which  was  less  than  had  previously  been  estimated  for  the  resistance  of  the  head 
framing  alone,  fifty  per  cent,  less  than  Chanute's  final  estimate. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  it  appeared  deficient  in  lifting  power.  We  decided  to 
arrange  our  machine  for  the  next  year  so  that  the  depth  of  curvature  of  its  sur- 
faces could  be  varied  at  will  and  its  covering  airproofed. 

"  We  then  turned  our  attention  to  gliding  from  the  top  of  Kill  Devil  hill,  a 
sand  dune  about  one  hundred  feet  high.  Although  landings  were  made  while 
moving  at  speeds  of  more  than  twenty  miles  per  hour,  neither  machine  nor 
operator  suffered  injury.  The  control  of  the  machine  proved  even  better  than  we 
had  expected,  responding  quickly  to  the  slightest  motion  of  the  forward  rudder. 
With  these  glides  our  experiments  for  the  year  1900  closed. 


lOO  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

"  When  it  came  to  building  our  machine  for  1901  we  decided  to  make  it  like 
the  previous  machine  in  theory,  but  we  increased  the  size  from  165  square  feet  to 
308  square  feet.  The  curvature  of  the  surfaces  was  increased  to  one  in  twelve. 
The  machine  was  completed  on  July  27  and  tried  in  a  wind  blowing  thirteen 
miles  per  hour.  An  attempt  to  glide  was  made,  and  the  machine  sailed  three 
hundred  yards  easily. 

"  After  a  long  series  of  successful  glides  and  experiments,  we  returned  from 
Kitty  Hawk,  and  took  up  experiments  in  our  laboratory  to  ascertain  the  amount 
of  pressure  on  curved  surfaces,  with  a  view  to  approximating  the  motor  power 
necessary.  We  knew  that  one  of  six  horse-power,  weighing  about  one  hundred 
pounds,  would  be  required. 

"  In  August  of  1902  we  repaired  again  to  Kitty  Hawk.  Our  1902  pattern, 
which  was  practically  the  culmination  of  all  our  experiments,  was  the  same 
double-decked  pattern  we  had  used,  and  it  was  used  in  our  last  successful  trial. 

"  There  were  two  surfaces,  32  feet  from  tip  to  tip,  made  of  straight-grained 
spruce,  for  frame,  and  cloth,  airproofed,  for  covering,  with  a  spread  of  305  square 
feet,  a  front  rudder  with  a  spread  of  15  square  feet,  and  a  vertical  tail  of  12  feet 
square,  at  that  time  fixed,  but  since  reduced  in  size  and  made  mobile.  The  total 
weight,  to  which  the  motor  and  gear  must  now  be  added,  was  then  116^  pounds, 
to  which  must  also  be  added  the  weight  of  the  operator,  from  150  to  160  pounds. 

"  On  the  second  day  the  machine  was  taken  to  the  big  hill  and  regular 
gliding  was  commenced.  The  wind  was  somewhat  brisk.  In  one  flight  the  wind 
struck  the  machine  from  the  left  and  began  lifting  the  left  wing  in  a  decidedly 
alarming  fashion.  I  decided  to  bring  the  machine  to  the  ground  as  quickly  as 
possible,  but  in  my  confusion  forgot  the  change  that  had  been  made  in  the  front 
rudder  and  instinctively  turned  it  the  wrong  way.  Almost  instantly  it  reared  up, 
as  though  bent  on  a  mad  attempt  to  pierce  the  heavens.  But  after  a  moment  it 
seemed  to  perceive  the  folly  of  such  an  undertaking,  and  gradually  slowed  up  till 
it  came  to  a  dead  stop,  with  the  front  pomting  skyward. 

"  By  this  time  I  had  recovered  myself  and  reversed  the  rudder  to  its  fullest 
extent,  at  the  same  time  climbing  upward  toward  the  front,  so  as  to  bring  my 
weight  to  bear  on  the  part  that  was  too  high.  Under  this  heroic  treatment  the 
machine  turned  downward  and  soon  began  to  gather  headway  again.  By  the 
time  the  ground  was  reached  it  was  under  full  control,  but  as  one  wing  touched 
first  it  swung  around  in  landing  and  came  to  rest  with  the  wind  blowing  in  from 
the  rear.  There  was  no  unusual  shock  in  landing  and  no  damage  at  all  resulted. 
As  a  result  of  this  we  drew  the  tips  of  the  wings  down  some  six  inches  lower 
than  the  centre. 

"  It  was  now  that  we  fixed  on  a  single  movable  six-square-foot  tail.  The 
majority  of  the  glides  had  been  made  in  winds  approximating  twenty  miles  an 
hour.  One  day  we  worked  in  a  thirty-seven  mile  an  hour  wind.  We  had  con- 
cluded that  we  needed  at  least  an  eighteen  mile  an  hour  wind  for  gliding.  In  this 
wind  we  found  the  horse-power  consumed  to  be  one  and  a  half,  and  in  a  twenty- 
five  mile  wind  two.  At  eighteen  miles  an  hour  166  pounds  was  sustained  per 
horse-power;  at  a  higher  speed  125  per  horse-power,  and  we  found  that  at 
between  eighteen  and  twenty-five  miles  the  ratio  of  speed  and  power  was  about 
equal,  but  above  or  below  varied  sharply. 

"  Much  time  was  spent  in  measuring  the  winds  about  us  and  the  flights  of 
our  neighbor  birds  in  them.  We  had  many  sorts  of  soaring  birds  in  the  vicinity, 
including  bald  eagles,  hawks,  buzzards,  and  ospreys.  Maxim's  machine  supported 
to  one  horse-power  twenty-eight  pounds,  Langley's  1896  machine  thirty-one 
pounds — ours  carried  165  pounds. 

"  Chanute's  best  degree  of  gliding  descent  was  seven  and  a  half  to  eleven 
degrees.  We  attained  five  to  seven  degrees.  If  it  be  desired  to  fly  horizontally 
through  the  air  by  mechanical  means,  the  best  angle  of  incidence  would  be  from 
five  to  seven  degrees. 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE    AIR  lOi 

"  We  were  now  approaching  the  point  of  introduction  of  power  into  our 
machine,  and  in  the  earlier  portion  of  1903  made  many  interesting  experiments, 
culminating  in  the  construction  of  a  motor  which  we  placed  under  the  operator 
sufificiently  to  the  rear  to  retain  the  centre  of  gravity  in  its  proper  position  accord- 
ing to  our  previous  designs.  A  screw  fan  propeller  was  geared  on  a  line  to  the 
rear,  and  a  second  one  placed  underneath  the  motor  to  serve  to  lift  the  machine, 
as  the  first  propeller  was  meant  to  drive  it. 

"  The  motor  was  our  own  gasolene  type,  and  anything  new  that  was  intro- 
duced had  already  been  suggested  by  our  previous  experiments.  Early  in  Decem- 
ber we  began  to  look  forward  to  the  day  of  trial.  The  weather  was  not  pro- 
pitious, but  on  Thursday  the  wind  was  blowing  about  twenty-one  miles  an  hour, 
and  I  took  my  place  in  the  machine  for  a  trial  from  the  big  hill. 

"  First,  the  lifting  propeller  was  started,  and  facing  the  wind  the  machine 
rose  easily  and  gracefully  to  the  height  of  about  sixty  feet,  and  when  the  rear 
propeller  began  to  hum  and  the  lifting  propeller  to  slow  down  the  first  flying- 
machine  sailed  into  the  wind  and  traversed  easily  a  distance  of  half  a  mile  down 
the  dunes. 

"  Our  experiments  are  not  yet  completed,  but  we  feel  confident  of  delivering 
to  the  world  in  no  great  stretch  of  time  a  completely  practical  flying-machine  for 
every-day  use." 

THE    KITE-FLYERS. 

It  is  uncertain  who  built  the  first  man-supporting  kite.  The 
idea  is  by  no  means  new.  In  1868  M.  Biot  built  one  in  France 
and  succeeded  in  raising  himself  from  the  ground.  It  was  a  crude 
affair,  however,  and  he  kept  on  experimenting,  and  in  1880  exhibited 
a  kite  without  a  tail  and  of  great  stability,  which  he  patented.  M. 
Dandrieux  became  interested  in  the  invention  and,  working  with 
Biot,  they  brought  out  in  1887  a  great  bird-like  kite  of  2.J  feet 
wing-spread,  weighing  55  pounds.  It  proved  to  have  lifting  power, 
but  it  dropped  poor  Biot  from  a  considerable  height  and  injured  him 
so  that  he  ceased  experimenting.  In  the  same  year  another  French- 
man, named  Maillot,  lifted  a  weight  of  nearly  600  pounds  with  a  kite, 
and  probably  could  have  lifted  twice  as  much  if  he  had  put  several 
kites  on  one  cord,  and  tried  them  in  a  good  wind. 

Lawrence  Hargrave  designed  a  great  number  of  kites  to  test 
the  efficiency  of  various  shapes.  He  finally  settled  on  the  box-kite 
of  oblong  shape,  that  bears  his  name,  as  having  the  most  lifting  power 
and  steadiness  for  its  weight,  and  this  has  not  been  improved  upon 
since  he  brought  it  out  more  than  a  dozen  years  ago.  Mr.  Hargrave 
has  devoted  more  than  twenty  years  to  the  study  of  aerial  science, 
and  added  much  to  the  world's  knowledge,  always  making  public  the 
results  of  his  investigations. 

W.  A.  Eddy,  of  Bayonne.  New  Jersey,  improved  what  was 
known  as  the  Malay  kite,  producing  a  cross-stick  tailless  kite  of 
good  balance,  that  has  been  much  used,  and  is  generally  known  as 
the  Eddy  kite.     When  these  kites  are  arranged  in  tandem, — that  is, 


I02 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


a  number  on  the  same  string,  to  form  a  parakite, — they  have  great 
lifting  power,  and  can  be  sent  to  great  heights.  Both  Eddy  and 
Hargrave  box-kites  are  used  together  in  these  parakites,  with  satis- 
factory results. 

The  use  of  piano- wire  instead  of  cord  has  lightened  kites  much 
more  than  relieving  them  of  the  tail,  and  the  two  improvements  are 
responsible  for  the  success  met  with  in  flying  to  great  heights,  as 
at  Blue  Hill,  Massachusetts,  where  A.  L.  Rotch  for  years  has  taken 
observations  regularly  with  a  meteorograph  elevated  by  kites,  the 
instrument  occasionally  being  elevated  to  two  miles  or  more  above 
the  sea  level. 


'Lamson's  Aerocurve  Kite. 


C.  H.  Lamson,  of  Portland,  Maine,  has  taken  great  interest  in 
man-lifting  kites,  and  has  built  a  number.  One  of  these  he  calls  an 
aerocurve  kite.  This  has  double  planes  and  a  double  triangular 
tail,  and  has  proved  very  stable.  The  drawing  affords  a  good  idea 
of  this  machine,  which  has  been  imitated  by  European  kite-flyers. 

The  standard  United  States  Weather  Bureau  kite  is  based 
on  Hargrave's,  as  are  all  the  common  and  familiar  forms  of  box 
kites  sold  as  playthings.  As  made  by  the  Weather  Bureau,  one 
contains  nearly  seventy  square  feet  of  supporting  surface.     It  is  an 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR  103 

every-day  matter  at  numerous  stations  to  send  these  kites  up  from 
5000  to  7000  feet,  running  out  from  8000  to  over  10,000  feet  of 
wire.  In  such  cases  the  pull  on  the  wire  is  commonly  from  50  to 
100  pounds,  from  which  it  is  apparent  how  easy  it  is  to  lift  a  man 
by  stringing  a  few  of  these  kites  on  one  line.  The  work  of  reeling 
in  these  kites  by  hand  has  become  so  tedious  that  a  steam-reel  has 
recently  been  introduced. 


Bell's  Four-Celled  Tetrahedral  Kite. 

Professor  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  electrician  and  president  of 
the  National  Geographic  Society,  has  improved  on  the  Hargrave  box- 
kite  by  producing  a  triangular  form,  which  he  composes  of  what  he 
calls  tetrahedral  cells.  While  the  triangular  form  does  not  have  as 
large  lifting  power  as  the  rectangular,  yet  it  braces  itself,  and  he 
therefore  claims  that  it  is  much  stronger  and  more  reliable.  It  is 
capable  of  being  indefinitely  duplicated,  so  that  a  large  kite  or  flying- 
machine  can  be  built  up  by  using  a  great  number  of  these  tetrahedral 
cells.  He  has  built  them  in  a  great  variety  of  forms,  and  his  experi- 
ments have  attracted  wide  attention,  although  the  records  of  the 
kites  for  flying  present  nothing  remarkable. 

THE    DIRIGIBLE-BALLOON    EXPERIMENTERS. 

The  dirigible  balloon,  as  now  usually  constructed,  has  a  cylin- 
drical gas-bag,  pointed  at  the  ends,  and  carries  a  car  with  driving 
and  steering  apparatus  below.  The  complete  structure,  with  its  occu- 
pant or  occupants,  is  designed  to  be  very  slightly  heavier  than  the 
volume  of  air  displaced,  so  that  left  to  itself  it  would  not  rise.  The 
gas-bag,  sometimes  aided  by  planes  or  wings,  serves  as  an  aeroplane. 
and  is  designed  to  rise  when  the  forward  end  is  slightly  elevated  and 
the  driving  screw  rotated  by  the  motor.     The  balance  may  be  main- 


I04 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


tained  by  a  rope  hung  below  in  the  form  of  a  wide-spread  V,  a 
weight  being  hung  on  the  rope  so  that  its  shifting  alters  the  centre 
of  gravity.  Within  the  hydrogen  gas-bag  it  is  customary  to  place 
centrally  a  small  bag  or  envelope,  arranged  to  be  distended  with 
air,  or  relieved  of  air,  according  to  the  condition  of  the  gas-bag. 
By  this  means  the  tendency  of  the  gas-bag  to  burst  under  reduced 
atmospheric  pressure  or  to  shrink  under  increased  pressure  or  from 


Carl  E.  Myers's  Sky-Cycle. 

leakage,  is  counterbalanced,  and  the  bag  can  be  kept  normally  full 
under  all  ordinary  conditions. 

The  durability  of  the  balloon  has  been  very  much  increased 
within  recent  years.  Carl  E.  Myers,  of  Frankfort,  New  York,  who 
has  been  building  balloons  and  "  sky-cycles"  since  1875,  ^^^  has  sent 
up  thousands  of  persons  at  fairs  and  the  like,  never  met  with  an 
accident.  Count  de  Castillon  de  St.  Victor  made  an  800-mile 
journey  in  the  air,  from  Paris  to  Sweden,  a  few  years  ago.  De 
la  Vaux  kept  one  of  his  balloons  up  for  thirty  hours,  while  M.  Mallet 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR  IQ5 

made  a  tour  of  France  in  the  same  balloon,  landing-  once  a  day. 
In  fact,  so  secure  has  the  balloon  become  that  Mr.  Myers  makes  the 
assertion  that  "  A  modern  balloon,  properly  constructed  and  care- 
fully inflated,  is  less  dangerous  than  a  railroad,  so  far  as  travel  is 
concerned."  It  is,  of  course,  the  descent  or  landing  from  a  balloon 
that  remains  fraught  with  danger,  because  the  aeronaut  cannot  with 
certainty  choose  his  landing-place.     Per  contra,  the  record  of  deaths 


/    - 

A 

/ 

^^  \ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

V^: 

/                                              ,s,. 

The  Santos  Dumont  Airship  that  Circled  the  Eiffel  Tower. 

from  ballooning  accidents  from  1875  ^^  1903  includes  twenty-three 
names.  There  is  no  accurate  record  of  ascensions  to  show  the  per- 
centage of  fatalities. 

Santos  Dumont's  famous  balloon  No.  6,  in  which  he  won  the 
Deutsch  prize  October  19,  1901,  is  typical  of  the  dirigible  class  of 
vessels,  and  its  dimensions,  etc.,  are  therefore  given  here.  In  form 
it  was  an  elongated  ellipsoid,  coned  at  the  ends,  and  measuring  a 
little  more  than  100  feet  over  all,  with  a  diameter  of  16.7  feet.  Its 
capacity  was  slightly  below  22,000  cubic  feet.     The  gasolene  motor 


I06  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

was  of  twenty  horse-power,  and  served  to  drive  a  two-bladed  rotating 
screw-propeller  with  a  spread  of  thirteen  feet.  A  truss  forty-six  feet 
long  formed  the  car,  the  propeller  being  located  at  the  forward  end, 
which  is  now  generally  preferred  to  the  aft  end.  This  truss  or  keel 
was  connected  with  the  gas-envelope  here  and  there  by  steel  wires. 
The  envelope  weighed  242  pounds,  was  made  of  silk,  and  included 
5000  feet  of  seams.  The  interior  bag  or  compensating  balloon  was 
one-tenth  the  capacity  of  the  bag  proper.  This  balloon,  which  re- 
placed M.  Dumont's  No.  5,  destroyed  in  an  accident,  was  completed 
in  the  remarkably  short  time  of  twenty  days. 

Dumont's  success  has  resulted  in  the  construction  of  a  dozen 
or  more  very  similar  dirigible  balloons.  His  No.  10  is  longer  and 
slimmer  in  proportion  than  most  of  its  predecessors,  and  has  a  carry- 
ing capacity  sufficient  for  raising  ten  passengers  in  the  five  baskets. 
Its  special  feature  is  the  use  of  four  rectangular  planes  between 
the  gas-bag  and  the  keel,  these  planes  having  a  total  surface  of  144 
feet,  and  being  designed  to  shift  so  as  to  alter  the  plane  of  direction. 
The  60  horse-power  petroleum  motor  drives  the  two  12-foot  pro- 
pellers located  fore  and  aft. 

Perhaps  the  most  unique  of  the  dirigible  balloons  was  the  "  cata- 
maran" twin  craft  built  by  M.  Roze  at  Colombes,  France,  and  named 
the  Aviator.  The  gas-bags  were  in  form  much  like  Dumont's,  but 
larger,  being  147.6  feet  in  length.  They  were  connected  by  several 
tubes  of  aluminum  and  sundry  braces.  The  envelope  was  of  silk, 
the  cones  at  the  ends  being  of  aluminum.  In  order  to  maintain  an 
equality  of  pressure  between  the  two  balloons,  valves  were  placed 
in  the  tubular  connections,  this  being  essential  that  they  might 
move  in  the  same  plane. 

Between  the  twin  gas-bags  was  located  a  two-decked  car,  carry- 
ing the  two  10  horse-power  motors  and  the  steering  apparatus. 
Above  this  car  was  a  very  original  parachute  apparatus,  for  added 
safety  in  descending.  It  consisted  of  twelve  bands  of  silk,  each  13 
by  3  feet,  designed  to  hang  horizontally  between  the  gas-bags  when 
the  structure  was  rising,  and  to  spread  out  horizontally  when  de- 
scending, or  at  the  will  of  the  operator,  forming  an  aeroplane  of  large 
supporting  surface.  The  total  weight  of  the  machine  was  5720 
pounds,  this  being  220  pounds  more  than  the  lifting  power  of  the 
gas-bags.  M.  Roze  held  to  the  opinion  that  it  was  desirable  to  have 
his  machine  considerably  heavier  than  the  gas  would  lift,  depending 
on  the  motive  power  and  air-pressure  on  the  aeroplane  surfaces  for 
the  rest.  In  practice,  the  weight  was  too  great  to  be  overcome,  and 
the  trial  ascensions  were  not  satisfactory. 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR 


107 


Mr.  Spencer,  an  English  inventor,  has  built  two  machines,  his 
second  air-ship,  in  1903,  being-  a  gas-bag  machine  86  feet  in  length 
and  2i^/i  feet  in  diameter,  giving  a  capacity  about  twenty  per  cent, 
greater  than  his  previous  machine.  The  chief  novelty  of  Spencer's 
gas-bag  is  that  it  is  flat  at  the  lower  side  and  is  blunter  at  the  for- 
ward end  than  aft.  The  lifting  power  is  960  pounds,  and  the  keel 
is  trussed  much  after  the  fashion  of  Santos  Dumont's  machines. 
The  propeller,  or  tractor  as  Spencer  calls  it,  is  placed  at  the  forward 
end  of  the  keel,  so  that  the  balloon  may  be  pulled  instead  of  pushed 
through  the  air.     One  of  the  most  sensible  features  of  construction 


Roze's  Aviator,  showing  Mechanism. 

is  the  placing  on  the  keel  of  a  large  water-tank  for  cooling  the  motor, 
and  so  arranging  it  that  water  can  be  discharged  as  ballast,  which  is 
a  considera:ble  improvement  over  the  sand-bag  method  of  reducing 
gravity.  The  lower  portion  of  the  gas-bag  is  made  in  such  a  fashion 
that  should  the  balloon  burst  it  becomes  a  sort  of  parachute,  that 
is  expected  to  prevent  the  navigator  from  being  killed  in  case  of 
serious  accident. 

Dr.  August  Greth,  of  San  Francisco,  built  a  dirigible  balloon 
which  was  tested  October  18,  1903,  and  in  which  he  rose  to  a  height 
of  some  2000  feet  and  made  various  evolutions,  finally  dropping 
purposely  into  San  Francisco  Bay,  as  being  a  better  landing-place 


io8 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


than  he  could  find  elsewhere.     This  macliine  was  of  the  usual  type 
and  developed  nothing  particularly  new. 

While  Santos  Dumont,  Myers,  Spencer,  and  many  others  have 
built  very  satisfactory  steerable  balloons  during  recent  years,  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  they  were  the  first.  In  1847  J-  M.  Partridge 
built  an  air-ship,  which  he  called  the  Pneumadrome,  that  was  very 
much  like  those  built  later,  and  might  have  been  as  successful  if  he 
had  possessed  the  light  motor  and  light-weight  fabrics  which  are 
now  obtainable.  In  this  machine  he  had  many  of  the  devices  which 
have  been  reinvented,  several  times  since,  as,  for  instance,  the  interior 
air-chamber,   from  which  the  air  could  be  let  out  as  the  balloon 


steering  Mechanism  of  Roze's  Aviator. 

swelled  in  high  altitudes,  thus  preventing  danger  of  bursting.  His 
steering  devices  were  also  cjuite  similar  to  those  employed  at  the 
present  day.  His  fabric  was  drill  canvas,  which  was  treated  with 
rubber  to  make  it  air-tight,  and  which  weighed  about  a  pound  to 
the  yard.  To-day  the  best  balloon  silk  weighs  only  one  pound  for 
six  and  a  half  yards,  while  stout  duck  canvas  for  aeroplanes  weighs 
less  than  half  a  pound  to  the  yard. 

It  seems  to  the  writer  that  the  principal  error  made  to-day  in 
the  construction  of  dirigible  balloons  is  in  connecting  the  propellers 
with  the  keel  below  the  balloon.  Recently  aerial  navigators  have 
claimed  to  secure  great  improvement  by  placing  the  propeller  at  the 
forward  end  of  the  keel.     This  is  doubtless  right  enough ;   but  how 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    THE    AIR  109 

much  better  it  would  be  to  have  the  propeller  in  line  with  the  centre 
of  the  cigar-shaped  balloon  ?  And  why  not  have  a  propeller  at  each 
end  ?  If  a  shaft  were  run  through  the  centre  of  the  balloon  coming 
out  at  the  ends  of  the  cones,  and  a  propeller  attached  to  both  the  for- 
ward and  rear  ends,  the  machine  would  be  under  much  better  control 
because  the  pulling  or  driving  power  would  be  in  the  right  place. 
The  car  or  keel  can  be  regarded  only  as  a  drag  upon  the  balloon, 
and  must  always  serve  to  impede  its  progress;  and  the  closer  the 
operating  machinery  can  be  brought  into  axial  line  with  the  balloon, 
the  better  should  be  the  results. 

The  desirability  of  such  a  construction  has  been  pointed  out 
by  several,  and  the  arguments  set  forth  have  never  been  satisfactorily 
answered  by  the  aviators.     Doubtless  the  strongest  reason  why  this 


The  Cochrane  Dirigible  Balloon. 

improvement  has  not  been  made  has  been  too  great  regard  for  the 
difficulties  of  connecting  such  a  shaft  with  driving  machinery  below ; 
but  this  difficulty  is  not  so  serious,  since  a  pulley  and  belt  connection 
with  a  motor  on  the  keel  could  be  constructed  to  rotate  the  shaft 
properly.  Very  likely  the  next  advance  in  dirigible  balloons  will  be 
a  construction  of  this  sort.  In  the  accompanying  illustration  the 
writer  gives  his  idea  of  what  such  a  balloon  should  be.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  smoke  and  fumes  of  the  engine  discharge  through 
a  tube  in  the  centre  of  the  keel. 

Among  the  numerous  believers  in  aluminum  as  the  metal  des- 
tined to  make  aerial  navigation  a  success  was  Herr  Schwarz,  who 
began  a  vessel  with  an  aluminum  gas-bag  in  1 894.  He  had  the  finan- 
cial support  of  the  German  government,  and  constructed  an  aerostat 


no  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

134  feet  long,  weighing  5720  pounds,  at  a  cost  of  $50,000.  Nearly 
four  years  were  spent  in  the  building  of  this  machine,  which  went 
to  destruction  six  minutes  after  it  first  rose  from  the  ground.  It 
demonstrated  that  a  gas-bag  could  be  built  of  sheet  aluminum,  and 
(what  ought  to  have  been  apparent  beforehand)  that  a  slight  fall 
that  would  not  hurt  a  balloon  fabric  would  injure  the  metal  beyond 
repair.  It  was  tried  in  November,  1897,  ^^^^  the  aeronaut,  who 
lost  control  shortly  after  ascending,  had  a  narrow  escape  with  his 
Hfe. 

Count  Zeppelin  was  another  devotee  of  aluminum ;  his  enor- 
mous structure  consisted  of  seventeen  small  balloons,  fixed  within 
a  frame  of  aluminum  rods,  so  that  the  whole  assumed  the  shape  of 
a  tube  coned  at  each  end  and  about  440  feet  long  by  30  in  diameter. 
It  held  108,000  feet  of  hydrogen  gas,  and  a  filling  lasted  nearly  three 
weeks,  costing  over  $2000.  The  driving  screws  and  cars  were  made 
of  aluminum ;  in  fact,  aluminum  was  employed  almost  in  every  place 
where  a  metal  had  to  be  used.  The  machine  made  one  or  two  flights, 
without  serious  accidents,  but  proved  unwieldy  and  subject  to  break- 
downs. Efforts  to  test  it  were  soon  given  up,  after  some  $250,000 
had  been  expended.  More  than  half  of  this  money  was  furnished 
by  Zeppelin,  who  was  financially  ruined  by  the  experiment,  receiving 
no  satisfaction  in  return,  except  the  name  of  having  built  the  biggest 
of  the  dirigible  balloons. 

The  writer  is  one  of  those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  use  of  alu- 
minum in  air-ships,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  heavier  for  its 
strength  than  steel,  the  idea  that  its  lightness  gives  it  value  for  aerial 
structures  being  wholly  an  illusion.  The  wires  used  as  kite-strings 
in  making  the  record  ascensions  were  of  steel,  being  what  is  known 
as  piano-wire,  and  had  much  greater  tensile  strength,  pound  for 
pound,  than  aluminum  wire.  Aluminum  is  a  light  but  not  a  strong 
metal,  and,  while  it  has  its  place  in  mechanics,  just  as  have  copper 
and  brass,  yet  it  ought  not  to  be  employed  in  air-ships  where  steel 
will  serve  the  purpose,  because  a  less  weight  of  steel  will  give  the 
same  strength.  Why  inventors  cling  to  it,  when  these  facts  are 
common  knowledge  to  educated  mechanics,  is  a  matter  of  surprise, 
and  suggests  a  fatal  ignorance  on  the  part  of  those  who  use  it. 

THE   AEROPLANE-MACHINE   INVENTORS. 

The   first   important   aeroplane   machine   was   a   three-decked 

affair  built  by  Stringfellow  in  1868,  and  exhibited  at  the  Crystal 

Palace  in  London,  where  it  took  a  prize  of  £100.     This  machine 

was  equipped  with  an  engine  and  propellers,  operating  in  a  space 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR 


III 


cut  through  the  central  plane.  The  steam-motor  developed  1.3 
horse-power,  and  weighed  only  twelve  pounds  with  its  water-boiler. 
While  it  did  not  fly  freely,  when  suspended  from  a  stout  wire  it  did 
travel  along  at  a  high  speed. 

But  Hiram  Maxim  and  S.  P.  Langley  must  ever  stand  first 
as  persistent  experimenters  in  the  aeroplane  department  of  aerial  sci- 
ence. Maxim  was  the  first  to  cause  a  machine  to  lift  itself  from 
the  ground  by  its  own  efforts  without  a  gas-bag,  and  Langley  was 
first  to  secure  a  really  long  flight,  developing  good  balancing  powers. 


Maxim's  Flying  Macliiiie. 

Maxim  surpassed  all  records  of  light  engine  construction  by 
building  two  180  horse-power  engines  weighing  about  300  pounds 
each,  or  less  than  two  pounds  per  horse-power.  He  took  a  just 
pride  in  being  photographed  while  holding  one  of  these  powerful 
engines  in  his  arms.  To  supply  these  engines  a  specially  constructed 
water-tube  boiler  was  employed,  weighing  with  its  condenser  about 
1000  pounds.  Because  the  condenser  enabled  the  same  water  to 
be  used  over  and  over,  about  200  pounds  of  water  was  sufficient  to 
run  these  two  powerful  engines. 

The  two  great  propellers  were  made  of  silk  mounted  on  metal 
frames,  the  diameter  being  17^  feet.  These  propellers  were  sepa- 
rately driven  by  the  two  engines.  All  the  mechanism  was  set  on  a 
wheeled  platform,  and  above  were  placed  a  series  of  wide-spreading 
aeroplanes,  having  a  total  supporting  surface  of  4000  feet.  The 
planes  were  made  of  double  balloon  cloth,  so  that  all  the  flapping 
would  occur  in  the  upper  thickness,  leaving  the  lower  or  supporting 
surface  smooth  for  the  work  of  lifting.  The  spread  of  the  planes 
at  the  widest  point  was  126  feet,  and  the  weight  of  the  entire  struc- 
ture, loaded  for  flight,  with  three  men  aboard,  was  8000  pounds. 


112  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

It  was  on  July  31,  1894,  that  this  machine  was  run  over  its 
1700  feet  of  track,  and,  after  a  few  warming-up  runs,  when  the 
steam  was  got  up  to  310  pounds  pressure,  began  to  hft  itself,  after  a 
run  of  950  feet,  as  it  attained  a  speed  of  about  35  miles  an  hour. 
It  was  prevented  from  leaving  its  track  by  upper  rails,  and  after 
having  run — or  rather  flown — about  300  feet  from  the  point  where 
it  began  to  bear  against  the  upper  rails,  the  machine  was  wrecked, 
owing  to  the  twisting  of  the  wheel-axles  by  too  great  an  upward 
pull.  At  the  time  of  the  break-down  it  was  sailing  forward  at  a 
speed  of  36  miles  an  hour,  and  lifting  about  2000  pounds  on  the 
track,  while  the  steam  was  still  about  90  pounds  below  the  pressure 
at  which  the  engines  and  boiler  could  safely  use  it. 

In  theory  the  experiment  was  eminently  successful  and  encour- 
aging, but  it  was  so  costly  that  Mr.  Maxim  has  not  cared  to  build 
again,  though  the  showing  indicates  that  with  sufficient  expendi- 
ture he  could  reach  the  goal  of  success  with  an  aeroplane  machine. 

Professor  S.  P.  Langley  tested  his  first  aeroplane  machine  May 
6,  1896,  at  Quantico,  Maryland.  This  was  built  on  a  very  much 
smaller  scale  than  Maxim's,  and,  while  conforming  to  the  principles 
learned  by  earlier  experimenters,  yet  in  appearance  resembled  a  huge 
four-winged  insect.  Its  dimensions  were  based  on  the  employment 
of  a  one  horse-power  steam-engine,  being  about  twelve  feet  from 
tip  to  tip,  and,  as  it  weighed  30  pounds,  it  is  noticeable  that  it  was 
a  little  heavier  for  its  driving  power  than  Maxim's  machine.  Its 
success  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  showed  good  stability  or  balancing 
power,  and  made  the  longest  flight  achieved  by  such  a  machine  at 
that  date.  It  rose  to  a  height  of  about  100  feet,  sailed  in  a  graceful 
curve,  and  when  the  steam  gave  out,  instead  of  falling,  settled  gently 
and  slowly  to  the  surface  of  the  water,  after  having  flown  about 
4000  feet.  This  little  air-ship  attained  a  speed  of  24  miles  an  hour, 
and  its  success  gave  Professor  Langley  the  courage  to  build  again 
and  try  to  do  better. 

The  Langley  aerodrome  of  1903,  which  had  been  looked  for- 
ward to  as  likely  to  be  successful,  proved  a  bitter  disappointment 
to  all  concerned,  owing  to  its  wrecking  at  the  very  start.  At  the 
first  trial  one  of  the  propellers  flew  off  its  shaft,  causing  some  break- 
age which  postponed  the  attempt.  A  few  weeks  afterwards  the 
aerodrome  was  started  again,  being  run  along  70  feet  of  elevated 
track  in  order  to  make  a  start,  from  which  it  should  have  taken  a 
long  flight  over  the  waters  of  the  Potomac.  Something  was  wrong 
with  the  balancing,  however,  and,  after  hovering  an  instant  in  the 
air,  the  structure  tumbled  into  the  water,  and  was  fished  out  in  a 
badly  wrecked  condition. 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR 


113 


M.  Tatin  and  Dr.  Richet,  two  French  inventors,  in  1897,  built 
a  machine,  on  hnes  very  similar  to  Langley's,  about  a  third  larger, 
with  a  less  efficient  engine,  but  being  over-heavy,  succeeded  in  soar- 
ing only  460  feet,  though  they  are  reported  to  have  attained  a  speed 
of  40  miles  an  hour. 

Emile  Berliner,  the  well-known  inventor,  has  given  attention 
at  times  to  the  flying  problem,  and  constructed  a  curious  aeroplane 


Langley's  Aerodrome  of  1903. 

in  1902.  This  was  a  model  machine,  weighing  thirty  pounds  in- 
cluding ballast.  Its  frame  was  of  combined  aluminum  and  tin  plate, 
and  the  length  was  seven  feet.  The  motive  power  was  furnished 
at  the  trial  by  two  sky-rockets,  and  it  travelled  about  forty  feet,  then 
turned  backward  and  tumbled,  it  is  thought  owing  to  incorrect  bal- 
lasting. 

M.  Clement  Ader,  a  Parisian,  has  spent  probably  nearly  $200,- 
000  in  investigating  the  principles  of  aerial  flight.     He  even  went 


114 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


to  Algeria  to  study  the  native  vultures,  which  are  the  largest  in 
the  world,  sometimes  measuring  ten  feet  from  tip  to  tip.  He  found 
that  they  sailed  on  the  air  very  much  as  Lilienthal  did,  giving  only 
a  few  flaps  of  the  wings  at  the  outset.  He  built  a  machine  which 
looked  like  a  gigantic  bat,  and  measured  about  50  feet  from  tip  to 
tip.  It  was  designed  to  run  along  on  wheels  and  then  rise  against 
the  wind.  The  exact  facts  of  its  trial  have  not  been  published 
authoritatively,  but  it  is  said  to  have  flown  100  feet,  to  the  satis- 
faction of  its  builder.  Its  weight  is  given  at  iioo  pounds,  and  its 
engine  as  of  forty  horse-power. 

The  following  table  of  comparison  of  these  machines  affords 
further  information.  Professor  S.  P.  Langley  may  be  considered 
as  the  most  successful  next  to  the  Wright  brothers,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  having  secured  the  longest  flight,  4000  feet,  the  nearest 
approach  to  this  by  any  similar  machine  being  Lilienthal's  soar  of 
1200  feet.  Considered  as  to  size  of  machine  and  costliness  of  ex- 
periment, Hiram  Maxim  stands  first.  For  sustaining  power,  Tatin 
and  Richet  take  the  lead,  their  machine  developing  a  lift  of  55  pounds 
per  horse-power,  which  seems  to  have  been  largely  due  to  the  fact 
that  they  secured  a  speed  of  40  miles  an  hour,  though  only  for  the 
very  brief  flight  of  460  feet. 


Maxim,  1894 

Langley,  1896 

Tatin  and  Richet,  1897  . 
Ader,  1897    ...... 


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100? 


The  aeroplane  machine  of  W.  Kress,  a  German  inventor,  which 
was  tried  in  1901,  was  novel  especially  in  the  fact  that  it  was  de- 
signed to  run  along  on  the  ice  until  a  speed  was  reached  at  which 
it  would  fly.  The  preliminary  trials  were  made  on  the  water,  partly 
because  there  was  no  ice  at  the  time  and  partly  to  gain  experience. 
Three  large  kite-like  planes  were  placed  crosswise  over  a  keel,  and 
the  apparatus  sailed  majestically  on  the  water,  steered  exceedingly 
well,  and  made  some  headway  against  the  wind.  The  motor  proved 
inadequate,  however,  and  improvements  were  postponed  owing  to  a 
lack  of  more  funds  for  advancing  the  experiment. 


Il6  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

This  lack  of  funds  has  proven  disastrous  to  numerous  prom- 
ising attempts.  If  a  number  of  the  leading-  students  of  aerial  navi- 
gation could  be  brought  to  work  together  in  harmony,  and  be 
provided  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  money  for  experiments, 
the  day  of  the  perfected  air-ship  would  be  much  closer  than  it  can 
be  under  present  conditions,  where  the  men  who  have  both  the 
genius  and  the  desire  to  win  success  in  this  field  are  hampered  by 
the  extreme  costliness  of  experiments. 

The  flying-machine  of  G.  L.  O.  Davidson,  of  Inchmarlo,  Scot- 
land, is  of  the  bird  type,  with  wings  like  a  great  mechanical  condor. 
He  employs  the  steam-turbine  to  drive  the  propellers,  which  he 
terms  lifters.  The  steering  is  accomplished  by  a  fan-tail,  designed 
to  restore  the  machine  to  a  proper  angle  when  the  equilibrium  is  dis- 
turbed. The  model  was  built  of  a  length  of  about  six  feet,  and,  when 
dropped  wrong-side  up  from  a  great  height,  righted  itself  and 
glided  gently  to  the  surface.  This  experiment  is  the  more  note- 
worthy because  the  matter  of  balancing  is  by  far  the  most  difficult 
of  the  problems  that  face  the  aviator  of  the  twentieth  century. 
Davidson's  humble  little  machine  is,  therefore,  of  more  value  than 
if  this  problem  had  been  solved  as  well  in  more  pr'etentious  air- 
ships. 

Another  promising  model  machine  is  that  of  R.  J.  Hofman, 
of  Berlin.  With  a  weight  of  only  y.y  pounds  he  has  succeeded  in 
constructing  a  little  air-craft  with  over  21  square  feet  of  wing  sur- 
face, a  water-tube  boiler,  and  an  engine  capable  of  carrying  a  press- 
ure of  165  pounds  of  steam.  There  are  two  propellers,  and  when  at 
rest  the  entire  structure  is  supported  by  a  light  frame  on  four 
wheels.  The  propellers  are  designed  to  drive  it  along  on  a  surface 
until  it  acquires  speed  enough  to  soar  upwards ;  or  it  may  be  pro- 
jected from  a  height  and  gather  speed  by  soaring,  on  the  principle 
of  Lilienthal's  soaring  apparatus. 

Because  a  balloon  must  always  be  at  the  mercy  of  a  strong 
wind,  while  an  aeroplane  or  air-ship  based  on  the  kite  principle 
can  ride  against  the  wind,  many  pin  their  faith  to  aeroplane  ma- 
chines, regarding  the  balloon  experiments  as  interesting,  but  not  as 
affording  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  aerial  navigation.  Professor 
Alexander  Graham  Bell  voices  this  feeling,  writing  as  follows  in 
the  National  Geographic  Magazine: 

"  I  have  had  the  feeling  that  a  properly  constructed  flying-machine  should  be 
capable  of  being  flown  as  a  kite;  and,  conversely,  that  a  properly  constructed 
kite  should  be  capable  of  use  as  a  flying-machine  when  driven  by  its  own  pro- 
pellers. I  am  not  so  sure,  however,  of  the  truth  of  the  former  proposition  as  I 
am  of  the  latter. 


THE    CONQUEST    OF   THE   AIR  I17 

"  Given  a  kite  so  shaped  as  to  be  suitable  for  the  body  of  a  flying-machine, 
and  so  efficient  that  it  will  fly  well  in  a  good  breeze  (say  twenty  miles  an  hour) 
when  loaded  with  a  weight  equivalent  to  that  of  a  man  and  engine,  then  it  seems 
to  me  that  this  same  kite,  provided  with  an  actual  engine  and  man  in  place  of  the 
load,  and  driven  by  its  own  propellers  at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour,  should 
be  sustained  in  calm  air  as  a  flying-machine.  So  far  as  the  pressure  of  the  air  is 
concerned,  it  is  surely  immaterial  whether  the  air  moves  against  the  kite  or  the 
kite  against  the  air." 

And  here,  with  regret,  the  writer  leaves  the  subject  of  aerial 
navigation,  confident  that,  even  though  he  be  the  first  to  have  classed 
it  as  an  industry,  he  will  not  be  the  last  to  look  upon  it  as  a  com- 
mercial factor,  and  fully  believing  that  ere  many  years  have  passed 
flying  by  machinery  will  secure  as  definite  a  foothold  among  human 
institutions  as  have  the  steam-yacht  and  the  automobile. 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 

To  the  bicycle  and  the  automobile  we  owe  the  good  roads  move- 
ment in  the  United  States.  When  the  horse  had  to  do  all  the  pulling, 
men  did  not  care  overmuch  if  the  roads  were  hilly  or  sandy  or  other- 
wise in  poor  condition ;  but  when  they  began  to  ride  the  wheel,  the 
aches  of  hill  climbing,  the  jolts  of  rough  roads,  and  the  nuisance 
of  dismounting  at  sandy  spots  made  every  rider  an  advocate  of 
better  roads.  The  road-making  went  on  even  when  the  bicycle  craze 
began  to  fail,  partly  because  people  had  learned  that  it  was  a  good 
thing,  and  more  because  it  has  received  new  stimulus  from  those 
who  follow  automobiling  for  either  pleasure  or  business. 

As  roads  have  improved,  and  many  have  enjoyed  the  thrills 
of  whirling  over  highways  at  railroad  speeds,  the  question  has  arisen 
in  many  minds  of  whether  the  automobile  in  time  will  not  rival  the 
railway,  or  even  put  it  out  of  business.  Sir  Henry  Norman,  editor 
of  The  World's  Work,  puts  it  thus  strongly : 

"  Why  should  the  community  pay  a  huge  sum  per  mile  for  a  special  roadway 
[steel  rails]  for  cars,  and  a  huge  generating-station,  when  self-propelled  motor 
omnibuses  of  equal  speed,  comfort,  capacity,  and  economy  can  vise  the  common 
road,  and,  by  their  ability  to  be  steered  around  obstacles,  not  interfere  with  the 
rest  of  the  traffic?  .  .  .  Few  of  our  leaders  of  opinion  have  yet  realized  that  we 
are  on  the  eve  of  a  more  momentous  change  than  that  inaugurated  by  Watt  and 
Stevenson." 

A  counter  view  of  the  situation  is  taken  by  Sylvester  Stewart, 
an  authority  on  railway  matters,  wdio  replied  partially  as  follows 
in  an  article  in  The  Engineering  Magazine: 

"  That  it  is  the  steel  rail  more  than  the  locomotive  that  has  worked  these 
wondrous  changes  is  shown  by  the  facts  that  the  locomotive  at  work  off  of  steel 
rails  has  accomplished  very  little,  although  it  has  been  in  actual  or  attempted  use 
longer  than  the  locomotive  on  rails,  and  that  railways  without  locomotives 
(horse-railways  and  cable-railways)  are  able  everywhere  to  carry  passengers  three 
to  five  times  as  far  for  a  nickel  as  any  vehicle  on  any  other  kind  of  road,  even 
though  the  vehicles  on  the  common  road  have  their  roadway  built  and  maintained 
for  them  free  by  the  taxpayers,  while  the  railway  company  has  to  maintain  not 
only  its  track,  but,  on  city  lines,  the  paving  of  the  street  between  the  rails,  and 
to  stand  the  wear  of  thousands  of  wagons  using  its  rails,  besides  paying  in  many 
cases  a  large  sum  for  its  franchise. 

"  As  to  freight,  the  average  cost  of  hauling  by  road  locomotives  is  at  least 
ten  cents  per  ton  per  mile,  but  on  railways  it  is  only  seven  mills  (on  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railway  one-half  cent),  and  this  charge  covers  the  cost  of  maintenance 
of  the  track  and  interest  on  the  original  cost  of  construction." 

"  The  highest  speed  (a  mile  in  46  seconds)  made  on  macadam  by  a  powerful 
118 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


119 


automobile  built  especially  for  racing,  with  70  or  more  horse-power  allowed  for 
the  propulsion  of  two  men,  has  been  far  exceeded  by  locomotives  on  rails,  hauling 
trains.  How  fast  would  the  automobile  go  on  a  macadam  road  if  pulling  a  train 
of  three  cars,  each  as  large  as  itself  and  filled  with  passengers,  and  how  much 
dust  would  a  man  breathe  in  a  day  on  that  road,  supposing  as  much  traffic  upon 
it  as  passes  over  some  railways?  Locomotives  running  alone  have  achieved  a 
speed  of  120  miles  an  hour.  Sixty  miles  per  hour  is  safe  on  rails;  15  miles  is 
dangerous  on  macadam,  as  would  soon  be  realized  if  the  immense  traffic  on  one 
of  our  railways  were  thrown  on  to  a  macadam  road 

"  Sir  Henry  speaks  of  the  '  huge  cost'  of  the  railway.  Considering  the  large 
traffic  that  can  be  carried  on  a  steel  track  its  cost  is  small As  to  com- 
parative cost  of  maintenance  of  roadway,  there  are  not  sufficient  data  on  which 
to  base  a  conclusion,  but  it  is  probable  that  a  dollar's  worth  of  steel  will  outwear 
a  dollar's  worth  of  macadam.  The  life  of  a  traction  engine  is  four  or  five  years ; 
the  life  of  a  railway  locomotive  is  fifteen  to  thirty-five  years.  All  roads  but 
steel  are  hard  on  heavy  engines 

"  As  to  a  '  change  greater  than  that  inaugurated  by  Watt  and  Stephenson,' 
they  inaugurated  the  running  of  motor  vehicles  on  common  roads,  as  well  as  on 
rails,  for  Watt  invented  the  engine,  and  Stephenson  successfully  put  it  on  wheels. 
They  built  for  all  roads,  but  Stephenson  showed  that  the  metal  road  permitted 
higher  speed  and  lower  rates  than  any  other,  even  when  the  rails  cost  fourteen 
times  as  much,  per  degree  of  durability,  as  now.  For,  before  the  era  of  cheap 
steel,  iron  rails  were  used,  rails  which  cost  more  than  twice  as  much  per  pound 
as  steel  rails  cost  now,  yet  wore  only  one-seventh  as  long." 

These  writers  are  quoted  here  because  they  represent  the  ex- 
tremes of  opinion.  Sir  Henry  Norman  is  all  enthusiasm  for  a  new 
and  promising  thing.  He  wrote  as  he  did  probably  after  a  fifty- 
mile  spin,  in  which  he  visited  more  places  in  two  hours  than  he 
could  possibly  have  done  by  any  other  means  of  travel,  and  he  found 
the  ride  invigorating  rather  than  depressing,  as  is  the  railway  jour- 
ney. He  is  over-confident  of  results,  and  imagines  that  everybody 
will  feel  about  automobiling  as  he  does. 

Mr.  Stewart,  on  the  other  hand,  through  great  familiarity  with 
the  details  of  railroading,  sees  the  enormous  difficulties  of  develop- 
ing the  automobile  into  a  competitor  of  the  railroads,  or  of  changing 
the  tendencies  of  a  so  thoroughly  established  institution  as  the  mod- 
ern steam  railway.  Through  conservatism,  he  loses  sight  of  the 
fact  that  this  is  a  world  of  change,  and  that  the  things  that  seem  to 
us  most  permanent  and  fixed  are  sure  to  fade  away  sooner  or  later 
before  new  commercial  conditions  and  social  evolutions.  The  rec- 
ords of  the  past  render  it  extremely  probable  that  railroads,  as  we 
know  them  to-day,  will  not  exist  at  all  in  500  years,  but  be  succeeded 
by  something  better  suited  to  future  times. 

As  between  automobiles  and  railroads,  the  truth,  in  the  view 
of  the  writer,  lies  about  half-way  between  the  ideas  of  Norman  the 
enthusiast  and  Stewart  the  conservative.  The  automobile  will  eat 
into  the  business  of  railways  and  trolley  companies,  and  create  new 


I20 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


conditions ;  but  it  is  not  going  to  cause  the  steel  rails  to  rust  for  lack 
of  something  to  carry,  or  to  stop  railway  dividends,  any  more  than 
the  coming  of  the  railways  proved  destructive  to  travel  in  wagons 
and  carriages  drawn  by  horses  on  common  roads.  The  history  of 
one  innovation  sets  a  good  method  of  forecasting  the  history  of 
another.  The  electric,  or  trolley  roads,  as  they  are  more  commonly 
but  less  correctly  called,  have  opened  up  means  of  traffic  on  country 
roads  and  suburban  highways  that  were  not  open  to  steam  railways. 
They  have  taken  suburban  business  away  from  the  steam  roads,  but, 


A  Touring  Auto. 

on  the  other  hand,  they  have  become  feeders  to  the  long-distance 
trunk  lines.  New  conditions  have  developed,  and  the  enormous 
growth  of  trolley  roads  has  not  checked  steam  railways  in  their 
earnings,  even  if  it  has  perhaps  prevented  increase  in  theif  mileage. 
It  is  reasonable  to  expect  the  same  sort  of  changes  as  a  result  of 
the  advent  of  the  automobiles.  They  will  produce  good  macadam 
roads  where  there  is  moderate  population,  and  asphalt  levelled 
roads,  free  from  steep  grades,  where  the  population  is  crowded. 
The  wealthier  classes  will  reside  farther  from  the  cities,  or  rather 
will  create  new  outlying  suburbs,  depending  on  auto-carriages  for 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS         121 

quick  transportation.  The  express  business  and  trucking  of  the  city 
win  fall  on  the  auto-truck,  and  the  horse  will  become  infrequent  in 
the  city  street.  The  old-time  stage  routes  will  be  revived  in  districts 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  trolleys,  and  auto-stages  will  carry  passengers 
and  do  a  parcel-express  business,  serving  thus  as  feeders  to  both 
trolley  and  steam  roads.  The  wealthier  classes  will  give  less  and  less 
patronage  to  the  street  cars  and  to  suburban  trolley  lines,  preferring 
to  ride  in  more  exclusive  auto-coaches  at  a  higher  fare,  when  not 
travelling  in  their  own  private  automobiles. 

When  it  comes  to  hauling  heavy  freight  any  considerable  dis- 
tance, the  automobile  will  not  compare  with  the  steam  road  operated 
on  heavy  steel  rails,  as  Mr.  Stewart  points  out  correctly ;  but  because 
man  was  made  to  live  outdoors,  and  because  the  auto  is  naturally  an 
open  vehicle,  and  men  are  learning  every  day  that  riding  in  close 
cars  and  nerve-racking  trolleys  is  not  good  for  their  well-being — 
for  these  reasons  the  use  of  the  automobile  for  passenger  travel  over 
short  distances  (under  a  hundred  miles)  is  bound  to  increase,  and 
that  very  rapidly,  while  the  taking  of  vacations  by  touring  in  an 
automobile  is  going  to  increase  long-distance  travel  in  the  same  way. 

The  very  proper  tendency  to  legislate  the  fift3A-mile  autos  off  the 
regular  highways,  where  people  drive  horses  and  walk  on  foot  or 
ride  the  wheel,  will  result  in  the  building  of  special  roads,  hard, 
smooth,  and  level,  where  speed  will  be  permitted,  and  where  thirty 
miles  an  hour  will  not  be  dangerous,  but  will  prove  inviting  as  a 
healthful  and  pleasant  means  of  travel.  Such  a  highway  is  already 
projected  between  New  York  and  Chicago. 

On  automobile  roads  there  may  be  secured  the  enduring  quali- 
ties of  steel  railways  by  adopting  the  plan  lately  introduced  on  some 
down-town  New  York  streets  for  saving  the  wear  on  streets  by 
heavy  trucking.  Two  lines  of  parallel  steel  beams  or  tracks  are  laid 
in  the  roadway,  at  a  level  with  the  surface.  These  steel  tracks  are  a 
foot  wide  and  half  an  inch  thick,  and  are  designed  to  take  the  heavy 
wear  of  travel,  as  well  as  to  afford  the  smoothest  surface  and  easiest 
hauling.  On  the  automobile  road  they  would  give  the  needed  in- 
crease of  durability,  without  confining  the  vehicles  to  the  rails. 

The  wear  of  the  automobile  on  the  roadway  is  really  a  serious 
question,  to  which  the  American  public  is  not  yet  aroused,  but  which 
is  sure  to  occupy  much  attention  before  long,  as  it  is  already  doing 
in  France.  The  road  officials  over  there  learned  several  years  ago 
that  there  was  an  increased  cost  for  road  maintenance  wherever  the 
automobile  was  popular,  and  in  many  country  districts  these 
charges  increased  $50  to  $70  per  mile  per  annum.     The  wear  and 


122 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


tear  on  a  road-bed  caused  by  transporting  a  given  axle-load  increases 
steadily  with  the  increase  of  travel,  and  a  road  built  of  earth  for 
carriage  travel  at  an  average  of  five  miles  an  hour  must  be  given 
greatly  increased  resistance  to  bear  the  traffic  of  automobiles  of 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Steel  Trackway  in  New  York. 


twice  or  thrice  the  weight  on  the  axles  and  twice  or  thrice  the  aver- 
age speed.  The  reduced  wear  in  the  matter  of  cutting  by  the  horses' 
hoofs  does  not  compensate  for  the  destructive  action  of  the  swift 
and  heavy  auto.  The  cost  of  reconstructing  roads  to  enable  them 
permanently  to  resist  the  wear  of  touring  automobiles  is  likely  to 
vary  from  a  few  hundreds  to  a  few  thousands  of  dollars  per  mile  all 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


123 


over  the  country,  an  expense  which  the  tax-payers  apparently  have 
got  to  meet.     This  road-wear  can  be  minimized  as  far  as  the  autos 
are  concerned  by  increasing  the  width  of  the  tires,  but  that  is  about 
all  that  the  builder  of  automobiles  can  do  to  relieve  the  situation. 
Carriage  building  developed  into  an  art  in  Europe  about  the 


Carriage  Works,  Assembling  Department. 

middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  carriages  and  coaches  were 
built  for  the  use  of  royalty  and  other  great  personages,  and  orna- 
mented and  decorated  in  the  most  expensive  manner.  The  first 
effort  for  producing  easy-riding  qualities  came  in  the  leather  straps 
by  which  the  body  of  the  vehicle  was  supported.  Next  came  iron 
spring-plates  which  were  used  in  connection  with  the  leather  straps 


Carriage  Works,  Gluii 


on  the  carriages  and  coaches  of  both  continents  before  1800.  The 
C-spring  came  a  little  later,  and  the  present  form  of  axle  w^as  first 
used  at  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Early  in  the  nineteenth 
century  came  the  elliptic  spring,  from  which  period  easy  riding  really 
dates. 

In  1770  there  were  59  owners  of  carriages  in  New  York  City, 


124  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

24  of  these  being  classed  as  phaetons,  26  as  coaches,  and  33  as 
chariots  or  post-chaises.  The  first  statistics  of  the  industry  of  car- 
riage and  wagon  building  in  the  United  States  were  gathered  in 
1 810,  and  show  that  the  product  of  that  year  was  valued  at  nearly 
$1,500,000.  In  the  ninety  years  following  the  volume  of  business 
multiplied  nearly  one  hundred  times,  the  total  sales  in  1900  being 
$122,000,000. 

The  buggy,  which  came  into  use  about  1840,  is  a  distinctively 
American  vehicle;  it  put  the  "  one-hoss  shay"  out  of  business,  and 
has  held  its  own  ever  since  as  the  most  convenient  of  light  vehicles. 

There  were  no  less  than  7632  establishments  building  carriages 
and  wagons  in  the  United  States  in  1900,  every  State  and  Territory 
but  two  being  represented ;  Pennsylvania  held  the  lead  with  872 
manufactories,  but  Ohio,  New  York,  Indiana,  Michigan,  and  Illi- 
nois all  exceeded  Pennsylvania  in  the  value  of  products  manu- 
factured. 

In  1872  the  leading  makers  of  carriages  formed  the  Carriage 
Builders'  National  Association,  which  held  annual  conventions,  of 
much  benefit  to  the  trade,  and  which  established  a  school  for  the 
instruction  and  development  of  good  workmen. 

The  building  of  automobiles  began  in  France  about  1890  and 
in  America  about  1895,  not  as  a  branch  of  the  carriage  industry, 
as  might  be  supposed,  but  rather  as  an  adjunct  to  the  bicycle  factoiy 
or  as  a  new  industry.  By  1900  there  were  109  concerns  in  the 
United  States  manufacturing  autos,  with  an  investment  of  $5,000,- 
000.  In  1903  the  most  reliable  estimate  showed  that  the  number  of 
factories  had  been  reduced  by  ten,  while  the  capital  invested  had  in- 
creased to  $24,000,000.  During  1903  the  local  manufacturers  sold 
about  20,000  machines.  In  January,  1904,  there  were  reported  160 
American  manufacturers  of  complete  automobiles,  130  of  them 
making  gasolene  vehicles.  An  organization  has  been  established, 
known  as  the  National  Association  of  Automobile  Manufactures. 

Gottlieb  Daimler,  of  Cannstadt,  Germany,  is  the  father  of  the 
modern  automobile.  It  was  he  who  brought  out  the  first  motor- 
bicycle  in  1885,  and  he  has  taught  the  world  how  to  build  the  light 
motors  that  have  made  the  auto  successful.  He  did  more  than  any 
other  one  man  to  develop  the  internal  combustion  motor,  con- 
suming benzine  drop  by  drop.  Daimler's  motor  was  early  adopted 
in  France  and  has  been  copied  everywhere.  The  French  and 
Germans  made  the  automobile  a  practical  road  vehicle  while  it  was 
yet  a  toy  in  America.  The  first  American-built  machines  were 
crude  and  unreliable,   and  it  was  not  until  about   1903  that  the 


THE   EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


125 


machines  of  American  make  began  to  equal  the  foreign  importa- 
tions. Our  makers  had  been  wiser  to  copy  the  French  models 
absolutely,  instead  of  trying  to  develop  better,  and  so  thrashing 
over  all  the  ground  that  foreign  builders  had  investigated,  dis- 
carding the  impractical,  and  finally  building  on  the  same  general 
lines  that  the  French  manufacturers  had  earlier  demonstrated  to 
be  correct. 

One  of  the  evidences  that  American  manufacturers  of  auto- 
mobiles are  now  at  least  on  a  par  with  French  builders  is  that 
Barney  Oldfield's  fifteen-mile  record,  run  in  14.35  on  a  circular 
track,  in  October,  1903,  with  a  Winton  machine,  is  a  world's 
record.  With  the  same  machine  Henry  Ford  made  another 
record  for  America  in  January,  1904,  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  by 
covering  a  mile  on  a  straight-away  course  of  sanded  ice  in  39^/5 
seconds. 

The  popularity  of  the  automobile  is  not  altogether  owing  to 
its  increased  speed  over  the  horse.  The  horseless  vehicle  is 
actually  easier  for  the  occupant,  and  subjects  him  to  less  jolting. 
This  is  shown  graphically  by  a  diagram  borrowed  from  Die  Auto- 
mobile-Welt.     The   jagged   line   represents   the   degree   and   char- 


^v^'^H.^lvl/UwAA. 


Horse-Drawn  Vehicle. 


Automobile. 
Illustrating  the  Difference  in  Vibration. 


acter  of  the  jolts  or  vibrations  communicated  to  a  horse-drawn 
vehicle,  and  the  undulating  line  the  jolts  to  an  auto  travelling  on 
the  same  road.  The  reason  for  the  difference  is  found  partly  in 
the  larger  and  broader  tire  of  the  auto,  but  mainly  because  of  the 
regular  vibration  of  the  motor,  which  breaks  up  their  regular  jolts 
of  the  roadway,  producing  gentle  undulations  of  the  carriage  that 
compare  with  the  movement  of  a  boat  over  a  rippling  surface  of 
water. 

The  automobile  has  so  many  good  qualities  aside  from  those 
attending  a  mere  pleasure  vehicle  that  it  is  only  a  question  of  time 


126  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

when  it  will  displace  not  only  the  horse,  but  the  trolley  in  many 
instances.  Given  an  asphalt  road,  the  auto-bus  has  many  points  of 
superiority  over  the  trolley-car.  It  costs  a  little  more  for  power, 
but  the  freedom  from  tracks  will  largely  obviate  the  blockade  nui- 
sance. There  may  even  come  to  the  dwellers  in  large  cities  freedom 
from  the  domination  of  street-car  companies  that  are  too  stingy 
to  run  enough  cars  to  furnish  seats  for  all  their  patrons.  A  few 
lines  of  auto-buses  run  in  competition  with  the  trolleys  of  Brooklyn, 
for  instance,  would  be  a  great  boon  to  a  long-suffering  public. 

The  gain  of  the  automobile  in  speed  and  durability  within  a 
few  years  is  a  remarkable  triumph  of  modern  machine  develop- 
ment. In  the  French  competition  of  1895,  arranged  by  James 
Gordon  Bennett  and  Baron  de  Neufeldt,  for  a  run  from  Versailles 
to  Bordeaux  and  return,  a  Panhard-Levassor  petroleum-motor  car- 
riage made  736  miles  in  48  hours  and  53  minutes,  including  all 
stoppages,  being  an  average  of  15  miles  an  hour.  This  record 
attracted  universal  attention,  as  demonstrating  that  the  automobile 
was  a  practical  road  vehicle.  It  was  made  with  a  little  four  horse- 
power motor.  Three  years  later  this  record  looked  very  small 
behind  that  of  23  miles  an  hour,  established  over  the  same  course 
with  a  six-horse  motor-car.  After  that  it  was  nothing  but  the 
breaking  of  records  almost  every  week.  A  twelve  horse-power 
car  made  the  Versailles-Bordeaux  trip  in  1899  in  half  the  time  of 
the  1895  record.  In  1901  the  record  over  the  same  course  was  at 
the  speed  of  53  miles  an  hour,  and  in  1902  60  miles  an  hour  was 
shown  as  an  enduring  speed  at  the  Circuit  des  Ardennes  by  a  seventy 
horse-power  racing  auto.  Even  this  last  figure  has  been  exceeded 
in  various  events,  and  it  looks  as  though  the  ultimate  speed  of  the 
auto  would  be  little  less  than  that  of  the  locomotive,  depending 
largely  upon  the  nature  of  the  track. 

A  few  of  the  more  prominent  types  of  American-made  auto- 
mobiles have  been  selected  for  description  here.  The  Locomobile 
gasolene  touring  car  is  a  twenty  horse-power  vehicle,  having  all  the 
machinery  placed  on  a  rectangular  steel  frame  resting  on  the  axles. 
This  enables  the  furnishing  of  any  style  of  body,  without  change 
of  mechanism.  The  centre  of  the  axles  is  only  seventeen  inches  from 
the  ground,  and,  the  mechanism  being  just  above  this,  the  centre  of 
gravity  is  brought  ver}'-  low.  The  engine  is  of  the  front  vertical 
type,  governed  to  run  at  900  revolutions  per  minute,  but  by  oper- 
ating the  throttle  the  speed  can  be  reduced  to  300  revolutions  or 
speeded  up  to  2000  per  minute.  The  valves  are  easily  accessible, 
and  can  be  cleaned  with  a  few  strokes  of  the  kerosene  hand-pump. 


THE   EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


127 


A  storage  battery  supplies  the  spark  for  igniting  the  fuel.  It 
has  four  cells,  two  being  used  at  a  time  for  starting  only,  a  high- 
tension  spark  being  obtained  from  large  coils  placed  on  the  dash- 
board. The  sparking-plug  is  so  arranged  that  it  will  not  short- 
circuit  by  being  fouled  with  oil.  The  power-transmission  appa- 
ratus, connecting  the  engine  with  the  rear  driving-axles,  consists 
of  a  simple  form  of  sliding  gear,  mounted  on  an  intermediate 
shaft,  connected  by  chains  to  the  rear  axle.  By  means  of  an  inter- 
locking system,  the  gears  cannot  be  changed  until  the  clutch  is  dis- 
engaged from  the  engine  by  a  foot-pedal.  Another  foot-pedal 
disengages  the  engine  and  throws  in  the  brake  on  the  differential 
gear.  A  hand  lever  may  be  used  to  operate  auxiliary  brakes  on 
the  rear  wheel-hubs,  and  this  lever  also  throws  the  engine  out  of 
gear. 

The  Oldsmobile  runabout  is  an  800-pound  vehicle  of  four 
horse-power,  designed  to  carry  two  persons,  with  fuel  and  water 
for  a  100-mile  journey  over  fair  roads.  It  differs  from  other  makes 
principally  in  having  a  flexible  framework,  technically  termed  a 
gear,  that  permits  the  wheels  to  take  all  irregularities  of  the  road 
without  straining  the  vehicle  or  mechanism.  The  rear,  or  driving, 
axle,  with  the  compensating  gear  in  the  centre,  runs  on  roller 
bearings  in  a  casing  made  of  heavy  steel  tubing,  with  two  heavy 
oval  flanges  that  screw  together  to  form  the  casing  for  the  gear. 
This  construction  relieves  the  driving-axle  and  compensating  gear 
of  strains.  The  rear  wheels  are  keyed  fast  to  the  axle,  and  both 
front  and  rear  axles  are  strengthened  by  trusses.  A  single-cylin- 
der balanced  motor  is  employed,  and  there  is  but  one  piston,  one 
connecting-rod  and  crank,  and  one  balance-wheel.  The  two 
valves  are  directly  connected,  and  the  simplicity  of  the  mechanism 
has  its  advantages.  The  speed  of  the  motor  is  increased  by  means 
of  a  foot-lever  acting  upon  a  gate-valve  opening,  that  admits  more 
explosive  mixture  to  the  igniting  chamber,  and  is  farther  increased 
by  advancing  the  spark  controlled  by  the  lever  for  change  of  lead. 

The  White  touring  car  is  a  steam-driven  vehicle,  whose  most 
noteworthy  feature  is  a  safety  boiler  using  superheated  steam. 
This  boiler  has  twelve  flat  coils,  the  water  being  supplied  to  the  top 
one,  and  travelling  through  to  the  bottom,  by  which  time  it  is  all 
converted  into  superheated  steam  at  a  temperature  of  about  800° 
F.  A  thermostat  serves  as  a  regulator  of  temperature,  this  con- 
sisting of  a  copper  pipe  with  a  cast-iron  rod  inside,  for  actuating  a 
needle  valve  to  maintain  uniform  temperature.  This  boiler  does 
not  require  watching  of  the  water-level,  as  do  ordinary  steam- 


128 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


boilers,  because  there  is  no  water-level  to  watch.  If  the  engine 
ceases  to  draw  the  steam  that  the  boiler  is  making,  an  ingenious 
device  traps  the  water  in  each  coil,  thus  insuring  safety  and  saving 
fuel.  The  arrangement  is  such  that  the  maintenance-  of  a  fixed 
degree  of  superheat  by  the  device  described,  and  through  the 
adjustment  of  the  heat  supply,  gives  simultaneous  regulation  of 
both  water,  fire  and  superheat.     The  White  touring  car  for  four 


The  White  Touring  Car. 


persons  is  ten  horse-power,  and  weighs  1600  pounds,  having  a 
gasolene  capacity  of  ten  gallons,  and  a  water-tank  capacity  of 
fifteen  gallons. 

The  twenty  horse-power  Winton  touring  car  is  credited  with 
a  5000-mile  trip  across  the  continent  of  North  America  in  the 
early  summer  of  1903.  The  motor  used  is  a  double  opposed, 
water-cooled  gasolene  engine.  A  great  effort  has  been  made  by 
the  makers  to  reduce  friction  in  the  transmission-gear,  steel  gears 
being  run  opposed  to  bronze,  and  operated  in  an  oil-tight  case. 
There  are  two  sets  of  batteries  for  ignition,  so  that  one  may  be 
held  in  reserve  in  case  of  accident.  An  air  governor  is  employed, 
operable  either  by  a  spring  button  beneath  the  chaufifeur's  right  foot 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


129 


or  an  air-line  valve  convenient  to  his  right  hand.  Pressure  on  the 
foot  button  increases  the  speed,  and  releasing  it  slows  down  the 
speed,  and  thus  the  use  of  a  set  of  gears  for  each  variation  of 
speed  is  avoided.  There  are  but  two  controlling  levers,  one 
operating  the  hill-climbing  and  reverse  gears,  and  the  other  oper- 
ating the  direct  driving  gear  and  emergency  brake.  The  chauffeur 
may  be  driving  at  a  high  rate  of  speed,  and  if  an  emergency  arises 
a  single  forward  stroke  of  the  right  arm  disconnects  the  power  and 
applies  the  emergency  brake.  The  gasolene  and  water  supply  are 
calculated  to  carry  the  vehicle  over  a  journey  of  175  miles. 

Electric  automobiles  operated  by  storage  battery  have  been 


The  Twenty  Horse-Power  Winton  Touring  Car. 

nearly  as  popular  as  the  gasolene.  Edward  H.  Sanborn,  expert 
special  agent  of  the  United  States  Census  Bureau  for  the  auto- 
mobile industry,  reports  that  in  1900  a  total  of  1575  electric  auto- 
mobiles were  built,  of  a  value  of  $2,873,464,  out  of  a  total  of  4192 
of  all  kinds,  valued  at  $4,899,443.  The  Electric  Vehicle  Company, 
of  Hartford,  builds  a  large  line  of  them,  including  a  runabout  for 
two  persons,  driven  by  a  twenty-cell  battery.  This  vehicle  is  char- 
acterized by  three-point  body  suspension  and  a  low  centre  of  grav- 
ity, which  combine  to  give  easy  riding  qualities.  There  are  five 
speeds  forward  and  backward,  the  maximum  being  fifteen  miles 
an  hour.  There  is  an  electric  brake  and  another  mechanically 
operated.     The  foot-brake  may  be  locked,  which  cuts  off  the  cur- 


I30 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


rent,  preventing  the  application  of  power  until  released.  A  Sea- 
bright,  Victoria,  Snrrey,  tonneau,  cabriolet,  coupe,  brougham, 
phaeton,  bus,  hansom,  and  various  other  Columbia  electric  vehicles 
are  made  by  this  company,  most  of  them  emiDloying  forty-cell  bat- 


Electric  Vehicle  Company's  Runabout. 

teries.  The  Columbia  gasolene  touring  car  has  a  motor  of  some- 
what unusual  design,  having  four  small  vertical  cylinders,  develop- 
ing twenty-six  horse-power. 

In    1897   a   typical    electric-cal)   service,    the   first   of   the   kind 
in  America,  was  inaugurated   in   New  York  City,  with  an  equip- 


Electric  Company's  Runabout,  with  Mechanism  E.xposed. 

ment  of  twelve  hansoms  and  one  surrey,  which  has  since  grown 
into  a  business  requiring  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  vehicles 
in  daily  operation,  running  on  the  average  a  total  of  nearly  6000 
cab  miles  per  day.     The  ordinary  motive  power  for  such  vehicles 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


131 


consists  of  two  motors,  a  storage  battery  of  forty- four  cells,  and  a 
lever  controller  by  means  of  which  the  driver  regulates  speed,  etc. 
The  mileage  capacity  of  a  charge  of  the  battery  on  clean  streets  is 
twenty-eight  to  thirty  miles. 

There  are  many  heavier  and  many  lighter  electric  automo- 
biles built  than  are  found  in  livery  service.  Some  of  them  are 
used  for  dray  work,  and  even  for  transporting  and  hoisting  safes. 
For  Washington,  D.  C,  a  line  of  electric  buses  has  been  built  to 
ply  between  the  hotels  and  railroad  depots,  while  in  every  city  and 
town  light  electric  runabouts  have  been  a  familiar  sight  for  the 
past  three  or  four  years. 


An  Auto- Van. 

A  combined  gasolene  and  electric-power  omnibus  has  been 
put  on  the  market  by  the  Fischer  Motor  Vehicle  Company,  after 
five  years  of  experimenting.  The  idea  has  been  to  secure  the 
good  qualities  of  each  system,  while  avoiding  the  objectionable 
features.  The  system  consists  of  a  combined  gasolene  engine  and 
dynamo,  there  being  one  motor  for  each  of  the  rear  wheels,  and 
a  small  storage  battery  and  controller.  The  dynamo  is  free  to 
run  at  a  practically  even  speed,  thus  supplying  electricity  con- 
stantly. Under  normal  conditions  the  current  goes  directly  from, 
the  dynamo  through  the  controller  to  the  motors,  but  when  coast- 
ing or  slowing  up,  when  little  power  is  needed,  the  current  is 
automatically  taken  up  by  the  battery  and  stored  for  later  use. 


132 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


while  the  gasolene  engine  does  what  propelling  is  required.  When 
extra  power  is  needed  on  a  steep  grade,  the  battery  supplies  it 
from  its  store.  Thus  power  is  economized,  and  the  benefits  of  a 
large  power  are  obtainable  at  times  from  a  small  source.  As  the 
gasolene  engine  runs  uniformly  instead  of  irregularly,  as  in  most 
autos,  the  gas  and  air  mixtures  can  be  set  so  as  to  secure  practi- 
cally perfect  combustion,  thus  reducing  the  bad-odor  nuisance  to  a 
minimum.     This  system  is  well  adapted  for  auto-trucks  and  buses. 

The  general  requisites  in  a  gasolene-motor  carriage  may  be 
summarized  as  follows : 

There  should  be  one  horse-power  in  the  engine  for  every 
200  pounds  of  vehicle  ready  for  travel. 

The  mechanism  should  be  near  the  ground,  and  the  motor 
forward,  resting  on  front-axle  springs,  guarded  from  the  dust, 
but  receiving  good  circulation  of  air  for  cooling. 

A  foot-pedal  should  serve  to  start  the  mechanism  by  a  friction- 
clutch,  thus  applying  the  power  gradually. 

There  should  be  a  foot-brake  on  the  main  driving  shaft,  with 
leverage  enough  to  hold  the  carriage  on  a  twenty  per  cent,  grade. 

A  second  wheel-brake,  that  can  be  set  with  the  hands  so  as  to 
stay  fixed,  should  be  supplied. 

Three  forward  speeds  and  one  reverse  speed  are  necessary, 
the  variable  speed-gears  being  out  of  use  when  the  highest  speed 
is  on,  thus  avoiding  unnecessary  noise.  The  low  speed  should 
allow  of  climbing  a  twenty  per  cent,  grade  of  a  macadam  road. 

The  steering  mechanism  should  be  constructed  without  lost 
motion,  and  allow  the  carriage  to  turn  in  a  22-foot  circle. 

Cars  weighing  800  pounds  with  full  tanks  should  have  tires 
not  less  than  three  inches  in  diameter. 

The  pump  should  be  made  so  that  the  operator  can  oil  the 
engine  cylinder  while  running  at  full  speed. 

The  motor,  variable  gear,  and  transmission  mechanism  are 
best  run  in  a  bath  of  oil. 

The  gasolene  and  water  tank  should  have  a  capacity  that  will 
permit  a  trip  of  125  miles  over  roads  of  moderate  grades. 

The  water  circulation  should  permit  running  at  full  speed  for 
thirty  minutes  without  bringing  the  water  to  boiling  point. 

The  gasolene  tank  should  be  so  located  that  a  leak  will  be 
noticed  readily. 

The  carriage  should  be  capable  of  a  speed  of  thirteen  miles 
an  hour  on  a  six  per  cent,  grade,  and  six  miles  per  hour  on  a 
fifteen  per  cent,  grade. 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS         133 

All  the  devices  employed  should  be  made  as  "  fool-proof"  as 
possible,  and  be  capable  of  withstanding  strains  ten  times  as  great 
as  required  in  ordinary  travel. 

The  mechanism  should  be  so  nearly  frictionless  that  a  1000- 
pound  carriage  on  a  smooth  level  floor,  with  engine  disconnected, 
can  be  kept  in  motion  by  a  pull  of  twenty  pounds. 

The  consumption  of  gasolene  should  not  exceed  one  pound 
per  hour  per  horse-power. 

The  auto-truck  is  steadily  gaining  in  public  favor.  While  the 
outfit  costs  more  than  for  two-horse  wagons,  yet  the  increased 
capacity  is  such  that  the  cost  is  much  reduced.  The  Adams  Ex- 
press Company  compiled  figures  to  show  the  comparative  cost  in 
their  work,  and  found  that  a  two-horse  wagon,  costing  originally 


Electric  Vehicle  Company's  Auto-Truck. 

$300,  involved  an  annual  cost  of  $1528,  while  a  three-ton  auto- 
truck, costing  originally  $2500,  cost  $1825  per  annum  to  maintain. 
The  auto-truck,  however,  travelled  twice  as  many  miles  in  the 
year  and  carried  three  times  the  weight  of  goods,  so  that,  although 
it  required  a  higher-priced  man  to  operate  it^  the  cost  for  each 
trip  was  only  seventy-six  cents,  as  against  $1.27  with  the  two- 
horse  wagon,  while  the  cost  per  mile  was  as  fifteen  to  twenty-five 
in  favor  of  the  auto-truck.  Comparison  with  a  one-horse  wagon 
was  still  more  favorable  to  the  auto. 

The  auto-truck  has  another  marked  advantage  in  city  use,  and 
that  is  the  saving  in  space  on  the  roadway.  The  crowded  streets 
of  great  cities  would  be  relieved  of  at  least  one-third  of  the  crowd- 
ing by  substituting  autos  for  horse-drawn  vehicles,  and  this  means 
fewer  jams  at  crossings  and  more  work  accomplishable  in  a  day. 


134 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Then  a  three-ton  auto-truck  can  be  stopped  by  the  brake  in  eight 
yards,  when  moving  eight  miles  an  hour,  while  no  driver  can  bring 
a  wagon  of  that  weight  to  so  short  a  stop.  The  mechanism  of  an 
auto-truck  is  more  reliable  than  a  horse,  and  does  not  break  down 
one-third  as  often  as  a  horse  balks  or  gives  out.  Also  the  auto- 
truck is  never  tired,  and  can  be  worked  sixteen  or  twenty-four 
hours  a  day  if  necessary. 

All  these  considerations  are  sure  to  settle  the  question  of 
heavy  haulage  in  favor  of  the  auto-truck,  wherever  there  are  fit 
roads.  Of  course,  owners  of  wagons  and  horses  will  wait  until 
the  former  wear  out  and  the  latter  are  incapacitated,  but  when 
they  have  to  make  changes,  most  of  them  will  prefer  to  invest  a 
larger  amount  and  so  reduce  their  cost. 

While  the  gasolene  engine  has  been  perhaps  the  most  popular 
motor  for  autos,  yet  it  has  its  limitations,  and  some  of  those  who 
run  vehicles  on  heavy  roads  express  a  strong  preference  for  steam- 
power,  as  having-  greater  flexibility  and  enabling  quicker  hill- 
climbing.  The  steam-driven  machines  are  heavier,  however,  and 
require  rather  more  care  and  experience  in  operation.  On  account 
of  its  convenience,  the  electric  auto-carriage  has  many  adherents, 
though  it  is  not  remarkable  for  its  hill-climbing  abilities.  In  the 
search  for  a  motive  engine  that  will  combine  all  advantages,  many 
experiments  have  been  made,  the  most  successful,  outside  of  those 
in  common  use,  being  the  alcohol  motor  and  the  ether-vapor  gen- 
erator. 

The  Bardon  alcohol  automobile,  which  has  taken  several  prizes 
in  French  races,  uses  pure  alcohol  in  the  carbureter.  It  works 
on  the  atomizer  principle,  a  ball-valve  admitting  a  very  small  quan- 
tity of  alcohol,  wdiich  is  vaporized  by  heated  tubes  and  mixed  with 
air  before  it  goes  to  the  cylinder.  The  hot  air  for  forming  the 
gas  passes  in  a  curved  path  to  the  atomizer  nozzle,  where  it  draws 
up  the  alcohol.  The  temperature  of  the  mixture  is  regulated  by 
the  degree  of  heat  to  which  the  inrushing  air  is  exposed.  This  air 
comes  in  from  holes  at  the  top  of  the  carbureter,  where  there  is 
a  rotating  collar  for  regulating. 

Ether  has  much  theoretical  advantage  over  steam  for  use  in 
a  motor,  but  the  danger  of  fire  has  prevented  its  general  use. 
Many  experimenters  have  tried  devices  for  making  it  sufficiently 
safe  for  commercial  use.  One  of  the  most  promising  of  these  is 
the  Desvignes  ether  generator.  Since  the  boiling  point  of  ether, 
OT  point  at  which  it  vaporizes,  is  97°  F.,  it  follows  that  at  a  normal 
temperature  of  67°  only  enough  heat  is  required  from  the  fuel  to 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


135 


raise  the  ether  to  30^  as  against  145"^  F.  in  the  case  of  water, 
before  the  point  is  reached  where  power  is  obtainable.  Of  course, 
more  heat  is  necessary  in  either  case  to  develop  a  pressure  of 
vapor  for  use,  but  the  calculation  is  that  an  ether  motor  will  use 
only  about  one-fifth  the  fuel  required  in  a  steam  motor  for  giving 
out  the  same  amount  of  energy.  In  employing  ether  the  difficulty 
of  the  designer  is  to  prevent  too  great  heating  of  the  ether,  so  as 
to  create  a  dangerous  pressure.  In  the  Desvignes  generator  a  feed- 
expansion   regulator   is    employed,    whose    object   is   to   limit   the 


Applying  Clay  to  a  Sandy  Road. 

pressure  in  the  generator.  The  vapor  passes  through  a  series  of 
coils  to  the  pressure-regulator.  This  contains  compressed  air 
which  has  been  provided  at  the  pressure  at  which  it  is  desired  to 
run  the  apparatus.  By  means  of  a  float-valve  in  the  regulator, 
whenever  the  pressure  in  the  generator  rises  above  that  of  the 
compressed  air,  the  generator  discharges  its  surplus  into  the  regu- 
lator, thus  maintaining  a  balance  of  safety.  When  the  pressure  in 
the  generator  reduces  below  the  air  pressure,  the  ether  is  returned 
by  the  regulator,  so  that  none  is  lost.  By  this  very  ingenious 
arrangement  the  danger  of  overheating  is  obviated,  and  the  only 
danger  remaining  is  that  of  accident  to  the  mechanism.  The  ex- 
perimental machine  built,  though  somewhat  crude,  developed  ten 
horse-power  in  the  motor,  with  a  weight  of  only  265  pounds.     If 


136  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

this  can  be  brought  into  commercial  use,  it  will  greatly  lighten  the 
total  weight  of  the  auto. 

The  tendency  to  use  the  automobile  as  a  modern  substitute 
for  the  old  stage-coach  is  shown  by  the  touring  buses  run  from 
Paris  to  Versailles,  and  the  summer  service  of  wagonettes  between 
New  York  and  Tarrytown,  as  well  as  the  sight-seeing  tours  about 
Greater  New  York.  The  fashion  having  been  set,  imitations  are 
following  in  numerous  cities  that  might  be  cited. 

The  most  startling  adaptation  of  the  auto  is  for  fast  passen- 
ger service  on  steam  railway  lines.  The  Serpollet  steam  motor 
and  flash  boiler,  which  have  been  so  largely  responsible  for  the 
success  of  French  automobiles,  are  to  be  employed  there  on  cars 
run  on  rails,  while  in  England  the  Napier  gasolene  motor,  which 
first  attracted  general  attention  in  the  Gordon  Bennett  races  of 
1902,  is  to  be  applied  to  individual  cars  run  on  a  track.  This 
suggests  that  the  improved  light  motors  developed  for  automobile 
service  may  exercise  a  revolutionary  influence  on  street  and  pas- 
senger railways,  especially  for  suburban  service. 

The  road  locomotive,  or  traction  engine,  which  was  in  use 
before  the  automobile,  is  a  vehicle  as  much  entitled  to  the  latter 
name  as  is  the  auto  proper.  The  development  of  the  auto  taught 
the  builders  of  these  traction  engines  how  to  build  better,  and 
now  their  machines  are  sometimes  termed  automobiles.  These 
road  engines  were  very  useful  to  the  British  in  the  South  African 
war,  proving  their  ability  to  travel  over  very  ordinary  roads,  and 
to  draw  heavy  loads  at  a  speed  much  greater  than  infantry  could 
travel.  One  of  them,  weighing  fifteen  tons,  will  draw  wagons 
weighing  a  total  of  forty  tons,  carrying  water  enough  for  seven- 
teen miles  of  travel,  and  average  thirty  or  forty  miles  a  day,  while 
being  able  to  make  from  eight  to  twelve  miles  an  hour  when 
pushed. 

Popular  Mechanics  enthuses  as  follows  in  a  recent  issue  over 
the  traction  engine  and  its  usefulness : 

"  Trains  that  move  along  dirt  roads,  or  roll  over  the  desert's  trackless  sands, 
or  in  the  forests,  plowing  their  way  through  the  underbrush  as  they  pass ;  trains 
that  ford  streams  and  climb  the  mountains'  sides  where  railroads  never  dared  to 
go ;  trains  that  turn  and  stop  when  and  where  they  please,  with  rights-of-way 
as  wide  as  the  fields  and  valleys,  the  woods  and  the  hills,  where  they  ramble  at 
the  will  of  the  engineer.  These  are  the  trains  hauled  by  the  traction  engine,  the 
new,  great  iron  horse  of  the  twentieth  century. 

"  This  iron  horse  has  brought  with  it  a  new  age  of  commerce.  No  longer 
does  the  mine  with  its  rich  deposits  of  ore  lie  idle  because  the  railroad  does  not 
see  fit  to  build  to  its  site;  no  longer  do  the  desert's  treasures  find  seclusion  in 
the  fiery,  desolate  bed ;    fine  woods  of  the  remotest  trees  of  the  forest  are  now 


A  Road  in  Los  AiiijcIls  bcluie  Oili 


Same  Road  in  Los  Angeles  after  Oiling. 


138  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

reached  by  the  woodman's  axe ;  lands  far  distant  from  the  route  of  the  regular 
freight  and  passenger  train  may  now  be  tilled  and  made  to  contribute  to  the 
world's  commerce ;  distant  quarries  are  worked,  and  all  sources  of  commerce 
are  made  less  dependent  upon  the  railroad  and  steamship  than  ever  before. 

"  Many  traction  engines  are  in  service  in  many  capacities,  and,  as  their  utility 
dawns  more  clearly  into  view,  they  are  becoming  more  numerous  and  their  field  is 
widening  many  fold.  There  is  now  scarcely  a  commercial  pursuit  in  which  the 
traction  engine  does  not  figure.  It  is  displacing  the  horse,  the  mule,  the  tram 
engine,  and  the  lumberman's  '  dinkey.'  But  while  it  makes  the  country's  resources 
less  dependent  upon  the  railroads,  still  it  increases  the  railroad's  traffic.  For  the 
traction  engine  rides  out  into  the  hitherto  unworked,  unexplored  regions  and 
brings  back  to  the  railway  station  the  products  of  the  newly  opened  fields  of 
commerce  for  the  railroads  to  haul. 

"  Great  is  the  traction  engine,  and  each  day  it  is  becoming  greater.  While 
the  world  has  been  a  long  time  inventing  the  perfected  tractor,  the  machine  has 
at  last  reached  an  advanced  stage  of  commercial  proficiency ;  while  it  is  in  use 
in  hundreds  of  different  pursuits,  it  is  yet  in  its  infancy." 

An  automobile  bakery  is  one  of  the  novelties  "or  freak  de- 
A'elopments  of  the  auto  craze.  One  has  been  produced  in  France, 
with  the  idea  that  it  will  be  adopted  for  army  use.  M.  Schweitzer, 
the  inventor,  has  provided  it  with  a  complete  flour-milling  appa- 
ratus, and,  as  it  runs  on  its  own  wheels,  as  long  as  the  operators 
can  get  grain  on  the  route  of  the  army,  they  can  turn  out  plenty 
of  bread. 

As  has  been  remarked  earlier  in  this  chapter,  the  coming  of 
the  automobile  has  aroused  attention  to  the  need  of  more  good 
roads  in  America.  There  are  not  many  methods  of  building  a 
good  road,  and  for  general  traffic  the  macadam  road  takes  the  lead. 
To  build  such  a  road  involves  a  large  amount  of  labor  and  ex- 
pense, but  this  is  restored  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  locality  in  time 
saved  in  travelling  and  in  other  ways.  A  back-country  highway 
when  relieved  of  its  steep  grades  and  mud-holes  and  turned  into 
a  modern  macadamized  road,  not  only  permits  of  a  saving  of  a 
third  to  a  half  of  the  time  spent  in  traversing  it,  but  enables  heavier 
loads  to  be  carried  with  less  wear  and  tear  of  vehicles,  besides 
inviting  more  people  to  locate,  increasing  the  value  of  land,  and 
hastening  the  approach  of  all  those  conveniences  that  come  to 
residents  of  a  travelled  section  of  country. 

To  form  a  good  macadam  road,  the  grades  of  a  section  should 
first  be  surveyed,  and  provision  made  for  reducing  steep  inclines 
to  as  low  a  grade  as  practicable.  There  can  be  no  inflexible  rule  as 
to  grades,  but  all  experience  proves  that  the  level  road  is  the 
cheapest  in  the  long  run.  Ten  per  cent,  grades  mean  a  greatly 
reduced  speed  of  travel,  and  the  fewer  there  are  of  such  the 
better.     Careful  attention  must  be  ^iven  to  the  flow  of  surface 


F 


u? 


140 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


water  along  the  route,  that  it  may  all  be  directed  where  it  will  not 
tend  to  wash  away  the  road. 

When  these  matters  have  been  decided,  a  gang  of  laborers 
is  called  in  to  make  the  cuts  and  fillings.  If  only  a  few  feet  are 
to  be  removed  from  a  hill,  the  old-fashioned  methods  of  plowing, 
hand-shovelling,  and  carting-  are  commonly  employed ;  but  if  a 
cut  is  deep  and  the  soil  loose,  the  steam-shovel  may  be  put  to  work. 
If  there  is  much  rock,  dynamite  is  employed  to  break  it  up  so  that 
it  can  be  handled.  The  earth  and  rock  removed  from  the  cuts 
serve  to  build  up  the  hollows. 

After  the  road  is  cut  and  filled  to  the  desired  grades,  a  bal- 
lasting of  rocks  or  large  broken  stones  is  applied  to  keep  the  road 
in  shape  and  prevent  its  being  washed  out  in  severe  rain-storms. 
The  more  rock  used  the  better,  for  this  is  the  basis  on  which  the 
rest  of  the  structure  depends  for  permanency.  The  macadam  road 
is  topped  off  with  broken  stone,  crowded  down  by  a  weighty  steam 
road-roller,  and  then  the  road  is  finished.  This  last  work  must 
be  done  with  care,  not  only  to  preserve  the  evenness  of  the  grade 
lengthwise  of  the  roadway,  but  also  to  secure  the  slight  curvature 
of  the  road  across  its  length.  A  road  of  sixty  feet  width  should 
be  about  a  foot  higher  at  the  centre  than  at  the  gutters,  and  it  is 
no  small  trick  to  lay  this  curve  correctly  and  carry  it  out  exactly, 
so  that  puddles  cannot  lie  in  the  road.  When  well  made,  a  mac- 
adam road  will  require  very  little  in  the  way  of  annual  repairs  to 
keep  up  its  efficiency,  but  that  little  labor  should  be  applied  promptly 
after  every  heavy  storm. 

A  marked  improvement  in  road-rollers  is  found  in  a  machine 
recently  introduced,  which  may  be  used  also  as  a  traction  engine, 
simply  by  changing  the  wheels.  This  machine  equipped  as  an 
engine  will  haul  a  load  of  fifteen  tons  of  stone,  and,  if  this  be 
carried  in  an  automatic  stone-separating  machine,  it  may  be  dropped 
along  the  road  just  where  it  is  wanted,  with  scarcely  any  hand 
labor.  As  a  roller  it  is  just  as  good  as  any  other,  and  it  can  also 
be  used  as  a  stationary  engine  for  driving  a  stone-crusher,  thus 
furnishing  all  the  power  required  for  breaking,  carrying,  deposit- 
ing, and  rolling  the  broken  stone  of  which  macadam  roads  are 
formed.  Another  valuable  addition  to  the  outfit  of  the  road  con- 
tractor is  the  dirt-elevator  for  use  in  soft  soil.  This  plows  up 
the  earth  and  carries  the  loose  dirt  up  on  an  endless  canvas  belt 
delivering  into  wagons  or  to  the  roadway.  When  the  dirt  is 
being  deposited  on  to  the  road  in  order  to  complete  the  grading, 
a  distributing  mechanism  is  brought  into  use  that  will  deliver  the 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


141 


loose  earth  upon  any  portion  of  the  roadway.  A  plow  is  adjusted 
directly  to  the  shaft  of  the  engine  and  arranged  to  deliver  its  dirt 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  elevator.  Such  a  dirt-elevating  machine 
will  handle  about  125  cubic  yards  of  earth  per  hour  in  a  moderately 
loose  soil,  at  a  cost  of  about  one  cent  per  yard. 

Dump-carts  have  been  improved  and  specially  arranged  for 
use  in  road-grading,  having  a  regulating  feed  by  which  broken 
stone,  or  dirt,  or  gravel,  or  sand  can  be  dropped  upon  the  road- 
way in  any  desired  thickness.  In  the  case  of  dirt  and  sand  a  sprin- 
kling attachment  can  be  added  to  keep  down  the  dust.  The 
great  demand  for  crushed  stone  for  improved  highways  have 
resulted  in  the  development  of  portable  stone-crushing  plants  that 


Courtesy  Champion  Road  Machine  Company. 

Depositing  Stone  on  a  Road. 

may  be  located  at  small  expense  for  breaking  up  stone  on  the  spot 
where  it  is  cut  out.  To  reduce  handling  with  such  outfits,  there 
are  portable  bins,  with  metal  discharging  gates,  in  which  the  stone 
can  be  deposited  as  broken.  So  well  adapted  to  transportation 
are  these  mechanisms,  that  it  is  possible  to  put  one  at  work  break- 
ing stone  fifteen  minutes  after  the  time  the  whole  outfit,  consist- 
ing of  crusher,  elevator,  screen,  and  bin,  has  been  set  in  place. 

For  soft  dirt  roads  a  cheap  and  satisfactory  road-machine 
has  come  into  common  use,  having  a  large  steel  blade  or  mould- 
board,  that  can  be  shifted  to  various  angles  and  used  to  level  and 
shape  the  roadway.  In  the  best  of  these  machines,  as  the  steel 
Champion  road-machine  here  illustrated,  the  axle  is  made  shift- 


142 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


ing,  and  it  is  possible  to  set  the  blade  so  as  to  take  a  cut  from  the 
side  of  the  road  and  push  it  up  into  the  centre  of  the  highway 
at  one  operation.  In  other  machines  the  mould-board  is  so  made 
that  its  curvature  can  be  changed  without  stopping  the  machine. 

In  building  mountain  roads  considerable  experience  and 
iudgment  are  necessary  in  laying  them  out,  so  as  to  secure  as 
easy  grades  as  possible  and  a  permanent  roadway.  The  new  roads 
in  mountain  regions  of  the  far  West  are  usually  built  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reaching  some  deposit  of  mineral.  If  the  ore  is  of  only 
moderate  value,  it  cannot  be  hauled  over  a  bad  road,  full  of  steep 
grades,  and  leave  any  profit.     No  team  can  haul  a  heavier  load 


The  Champion  Road-Making  Machine. 

than  it  can  handle  on  the  steepest  grade  of  that  road ;  consequently 
the  laying  out  of  such  roads  is  of  great  importance  to  the  users. 
The  crossing  of  streams  has  to  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible, 
because  bridges  are  expensive,  and  avoidance  of  snow-slides  is 
absolutely  essential  to  safety.  In  cutting  into  a  mountain  wall 
where  the  roadway  is  obtained  by  making  a  nick  or  notch  in  the 
rocky  slope,  the  cribbing  or  filling  requires  to  be  of  the  most  sub- 
stantial character  if  the  road  is  to  last;  and  if  the  bank  is  cut  down 
too  straight,  the  action  of  ice  and  water  is  apt  to  break  it  down 
rapidly  so  that  the  debris  falls  into  the  roadway.  In  the  illustra- 
tions of  two  mountain  roads,  the  Ute  pass  is  much  better  con- 
structed than  the  Ouray  and  Silverton  toll-road. 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS         143 

The  use  of  petroleum  for  reducing  the  dust  nuisance  on 
highways  was  introduced  in  CaHfornia  in  1898,  being  tried  on  six 
miles  of  road  in  Los  Angeles  County.  The  experiment  proved  a 
success,  and  some  thirty  counties  in  California  are  now  employino- 


Ute  Pass,  Colorado.  Ouray  and  Silverton  Toll-Road,  Colorado. 

this  method  of  dust-laying,  while  many  other  States  are  taking 
up  the  system.  It  was  found  that  the  application  of  oil  had  many 
other  advantages  in  addition  to  reducing  the  dust,  because  it  tends 
to  form  a  tough  surface  or  crust  that  is  almost  equal  to  asphalt. 


144 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Roads  that  formerly  were  full  of  soft  sandy  places  in  dry  weather 
after  treatment  with  oil  present  a  hard,  smooth  surface  at  all  sea- 
sons, upon  which  teams  can  draw  heavy  loads  with  comparative 
ease.  The  oil  road  has  also  the  advantage  that  it  resists  rain- 
storms. Everybody  knows  that  oil  and  water  will  not  mix,  and 
in  the  heaviest  rain-storms  the  v^-ater  simply  rolls  off  an  oiled 
road,  where  it  cuts  and  washes  other  roads. 

Oiling  gives  the  road  a  seal-brown  color  that  is  agreeable  to 
the  eyes,  and  prevents  that  reflection  from  white  sands  which  is 
so  annoying  to  people  who  drive  in  sunny  weather.     The  illus- 


Sections  of  Oiled  Road,  showing  Different  Thicknesses  of  Oil  Crust. 


trations  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  improvement  in  a  road  in  Los 
Angeles  County,  while  the  photographs  showing  blocks  of  soil 
removed  from  oiled  roads  indicate  the  depth  to  which  the  oil  may 
produce  a  crust.  The  road-oiling  machine  is  the  equivalent  of  a 
watering-cart,  oil  being  used  instead  of  water.  Before  oiling,  a 
road  should  be  carefully  smoothed  and  shaped,  and.  after  receiving 
a  thorough  soaking  with  oil,  should  be  gone  over  with  a  light 
roller.  The  best  results  are  obtained  when  the  oil  crust  is  formed 
to  a  depth  of  about  three  inches.  The  notion  that  an  oiled  road 
may  be  a  damage  in  the  way  of  staining  materials  coming  in  con- 
tact with  it  is  an  erroneous  one,  as  the  oil  tends  to  stick  to  the  road, 
and  a  handkerchief  or  garment  laid  on  the  road  for  a  considerable 
time  will  not  show  any  signs  of  being  stained  with  oil. 


THE    EVOLUTION    IN    VEHICLES    AND    ROADWAYS 


H5 


In  many  of  the  Southern  States  the  laws  provide  that  convicts 
or  prisoners  in  the  jails  may  be  assigned  to  work  on  the  public 
roads,  and  a  system  has  grown  up  by  which  the  labor  of  these 
men  is  used  to  improve  the  roads  of  the  localities.  The  cost  to 
the  State  of  such  convict  labor  varies  from  fifteen  to  sixty  cents 
per  day  for  each  man,  and  the  employment  of  the  men  out-doors 
is  considered  an  advantage  to  the  convicts  themselves.  The  sand- 
clay  roads  of  Richland  County,  South  Carolina,  are  the  product  of 
convict  labor,  and  are  not  only  very  cheap  but  very  satisfactory 
in  use.      (See  illustration,  page  135.)     Both  clay  and  sand  being 


Los  Angeles,  (  ali 


Wear. 


abundant  in  that  locality,  and  each  tending  to  make  very  bad 
stretches  of  road,  the  simple  plan  was  adopted  of  spreading  a  top 
layer  of  sand  over  the  clay  sections,  and  spreading  a  layer  of 
clay  over  the  sandy  sections.  After  considerable  experimenting, 
the  men  in  charge  learned  how  to  apph^  and  use  the  sand  and  clay 
together  so  as  to  avoid  too  much  stickiness  in  wet  weather  and 
too  much  dust  in  dry  weather.  As  a  result  of  this  work,  Richland 
County  has  in  the  past  six  years  improved  nearly  three  hundred 
miles  of  her  roads,  at  a  cost  of  about  $300  a  mile. 

Several  years  ago  New  York  State  passed  a  law  providing 


146 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


for  the  payment  by  the  State  of  one-half  the  cost  of  new  roads 
to  be  built  under  certain  regulations,  and  known  as  State  roads. 
This  was  an  incentive  to  towns  to  accept  the  provisions  of  the  act, 
and  pay  the  other  half  of  the  expense,  thus  securing  new  level 
macadam  roads  at  a  moderate  present  cash  outlay.  This  law  gave 
great  stimulus  to  road-building  in  the  Empire  State,  and  it  has  been 
copied  by  other  States,  with  results  that  are  sure  to  be  beneficial 
to  the  whole  country. 


A  Newly  Finished  Oil  Road. 


The  prosperity  of  a  country  is  dependent  in  a  large  degree 
upon  its  railways  and  highways,  as  the  means  of  enabling  the 
people  to  trade  with  each  other  and  go  about.  Unquestionably 
the  auto's  influence  for  good  roads  marks  a  new  era,  whose  future 
can  only  be  guessed  at,  but  which  may  change  our  methods  of 
living  and  doing  business  as  much  as  the  railroads  have  changed 
them  in  the  last  fifty  or  seventy-five  years.  When  there  is  not  a 
square  mile  of  comparatively  level  territory  in  the  United  States 
without  its  asphalt  roads,  this  will  be  a  very  different  country,  yet 
who  dares  to  prophesy  that  this  may  not  be  the  case  before  the 
opening  of  the  twenty-first  century? 


THE   RACE   FOR   SUPREMACY   ON   THE   SEAS 

The  first  boat  was  undoubtedly  a  fallen  tree  that  some  primi- 
tive man  dragged  to  the  water  and  bestrode  for  a  ride.  Then 
came  the  dugout,  the  bark  canoe,  and  the  coracle ;  next  the  row- 
boat,  followed  by  the  sailing  vessel,  and  lastly  the  steamship.  Ever 
since  the  first  savage  burned  out  his  log  to  make  a  place  to  sit  in, 
there  has  been  competition  in  boats  or  means  of  navigation.  The 
end  of  all  that  is  desirable  in  sailing  craft  is  not  found  in  the 
latest  cup  defender,  nor  is  the  last  giant  steamship  of  the  Atlantic 
highway  the  perfection  of  steam  craft.  No  matter  how  much  one 
builder  outdoes  his  predecessor  or  his  own  previous  efforts,  within 
a  few  years  or  months  along  comes  something  faster,  bigger,  or 
better. 

Such  is  progress,  not  very  different  on  the  seas  from  what  it  is 
on  land,  though  the  successes  of  the  sea,  for  some  reason,  are 
usually  better  advertised. 

When  we  reflect  what  an  uncertain  waste  is  the  ocean,  how 
the  voyager  seems  lost  when  out  of  sight  of  land,  how  in  storms 
the  waves  rise  and  tower  above  smoke-stacks  and  masts,  of  the 
dangers  from  collision,  from  fire  and  other  sources,  it  is  indeed 
marvellous  that  man  has  established  great  steel  palaces  that  carry 
people  across  the  ocean,  moving  five  hundred  miles  and  more  a 
day,  with  rarely  a  breath  of  discomfort  or  suggestion  of  accident. 
These  mammoths  of  the  Atlantic,  in  whose  depths  are  rows  of 
blazing  furnaces,  into  which  coal  is  ceaselessly  flung  by  a  small 
regiment  of  perspiring  men  who  appear  never  to  tire,  are  monu- 
ments to  the  industrial  progress  of  the  era. 

As  an  American,  I  wish  I  could  write  that  the  United  States 
is  mistress  of  the  seas,  and  that  vessels  built  on  her  shores,  by  her 
mechanics,  and  sailing  under  her  flag  were  to  be  found  on  every 
ocean  highway  and  in  every  prominent  port.  Alas,  it  is  not  so. 
Our  position  as  a  maritime  nation  is  represented  by  a  single  form 
of  success,  that  of  building  the  fastest  ninety-foot  racing-yachts. 
In  all  other  respects  Britannia  so  far  outstrips  us  as  a  sea  power 
and  builder  of  ships  that  we  are  too  insignificant  for  comparison. 
In  1900  over  ninety  per  cent,  of  our  foreign  commerce  was  car- 
ried in  foreign  bottoms.  Seventy-four  years  previously  over 
ninety  per  cent,  was  carried  in  American  vessels.     In  1826  foreign 

147 


148  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

vessels  carried  seven  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  our  foreign  commerce, 
valued  at  a  little  over  twelve  millions  of  dollars;  in  1900  they 
carried  over  ninety  per  cent.,  valued  at  almost  two  billions  of 
dollars,  an  increase  of  15,380  per  cent. !  Could  the  record  be  worse? 
The  foreign  trade  of  the  United  States  and  the  ship-building 
industry  went  overboard  during  the  Civil  War,  and,  though  the 
foreign  trade  picked  up  and  developed,  the  work  was  done  there- 
after almost  wholly  in  vessels  built  and  owned  abroad.  There 
is  just  one  grain  of  comfort  left  to  us  in  ship-building.  We  do 
build  the  vessels  for  our  coast  and  river  trade  and  for  traffic  on 
our  lakes.  In  Great  Britain,  in  1899  (the  latest  accurate  figures 
I  can  find  for  comparison),  567  steel  steamships  were  constructed, 


Shamrock  III. 


with  a  total  tonnage  of  1,341,425,  and  in  the  same  year  123  steel 
steam-vessels  were  built  in  the  United  States,  aggregating  237,397 
tons,  while  in  1903  our  figures  were  240,107  tons,  so  that  our 
ship-building  ranks  as  little  more  than  one-sixth  of  Great  Brit- 
ain's. Of  the  123  steel  steamers  built  in  the  United  States  in  1899, 
I  cannot  learn  whether  any  were  built  for  foreign  commerce,  but 
I  find  in  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  of  Navigation  that  we 
did  build  one  steel  steamer  for  foreign  commerce  in  1900,  and 
lately  three  more  have  been  built  that  are  creditable  to  our  ship- 
yards. 

During  the  decade  ending  with  the  last  of  1900,  a  little  over 
twelve  million  tons  of  steel  steamships  were  built  in  the  ship- 
yards of  the  world;    a  little  over  six  per  cent,  of  these  were  built 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY  ON    THE    SEAS 


149 


in  the  United  States,  and  a  fraction  over  81  per  cent,  in  Great 
Britain.  When  wooden  vessels  are  included  in  the  comparison,  the 
merchant  navy  of  the  United  States  makes  a  better  showing,  but, 
as  steel  vessels  are  generally  replacing  wooden  ones,  there  is  little 
satisfaction  in  this. 

Within  a  few  years  a  new  method  of  launching  has  come  into 
vogue,  being  shown  in  the  illustration.  The  ways  are  constructed 
with  a  slant  to  one  side,  and  at  the  proper  time  the  hull  is  slipped 
sideways  into  the  water,  having  a  less  distance  to  go  than  with  the 
end-launch,  and  taking  a  position  in  the  water  more  convenient  for 
subsequent  work  on  the  craft. 


The  New  Side  System  of  Launching. 

It  is  in  the  development  of  our  navy  that  our  chief  hope  lies 
in  the  United  States  for  reviving  the  trade  in  our  ship-yards.  The 
efforts  of  the  government  to  bring  our  navy  up  to  the  importance 
of  the  country  have  resulted  in  the  re-equipment  of  old  plants  and 
the  establishment  of  new  up-to-date  plants  where  naval  vessels 
of  the  highest  grade  can  be  built.  Great  Britain  has  by  far  the 
largest  navy  of  the  world.  France  ranks  second,  Russia  third,  and 
the  United  States  and  Germany  may  be  said  to  be  tied  for  fourth 
place,  American  statisticians  claiming  that  our  navy  is  the  stronger, 
and  Germans  calculating  to  the  contrary.  Great  Britain  builds  a 
very  fair-sized  navy  every  year,  having  constructed  forty-two  new 
vessels,  or  rather  begun  the  construction  of  that  many,  in  1903. 
It  is  confusing  to  give  the  figures  for  a  single  year,  because  many 


ISO 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


vessels  require  more  than  a  year  for  completion,  and.  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  Great  Britain  usually  has  about  seventy-five  war-vessels 
in  process  of  construction.     The  following  table  shows  the  condi- 
tion of  the  seven  leading  navies  of  the  world  June  i,  1904: 
Naval  Vessels — Built. 


Class  of  Vessel. 


Battle-ships,  first  class    .... 
Battle-ships,  second  class  .... 

Battle-ships,  third  class 

Coast-defense  vessels 

Cruisers,  armored 

Cruisers,  protected,  first  class  .  . 
Cruisers,  protected,  second  class 
Cruisers,  protected,  third  class    . 

Cruisers,  unprotected 

Torpedo-vessels 

Torpedo-boat  destroyers   .... 

Torpedo-boats 

Submarine  torpedo-boats  .... 


♦J  a 

a 

c 

i^.'ti 

(5  ^ 

"m 

fc, 

ffi 

42 

19 

13 

4 

8 

4 

2 

I 

I 

2 

14 

13 

18 

9 

8 

21 

7 

6 

51 

16 

5 

32 

17 

10 

I 

3 

34 

16 

9 

112 

14 

48 

«5 

247 

132 

5 

15 

12 

4 

12 

II 

2 

I 

8 

10 

20 

2 

28 

93 


10 
I 

15 
2 

3 
II 


14 
27 

3 


12 

5 

5 

5 
II 

14 
II 

245 

I 


Building. 


Battle-ships,  first  class 

Battle-ships,  second  class 
Coast-defense  vessels  .    . 
Cruisers,  armored    .    .    . 


■{ 


Cruisers,  protected,  first  class  .    . 
Cruisers,  protected,  second  class 

Cruisers,  protected,  third  class    . 

Scouts 

Torpedo-boat  destroyers   .... 

Torpedo-boats 

Submarine  torpedo-boats  .... 


9 

I 

17 
67 


12 
3 

I 

}« 

8 

{I 

6 

19 

4 

13 
I 

■  ■ 
3 

3 

I 

I 
II 

}'■ 

2 

2 

6 

4 
3 

5 
2 

}•■ 

4 
4 

\-- 

19 
15 

19 

4 

h 

1    4 
\    6 

6 

1- 

4 

18 
25 

}' 

4 

8 

4 
10 

25 
18 

}^ 

5 

3 

For  many  years  the  trend  of  naval  construction  was  towards 
the  most  powerful  fighting  machines — floating  forts.  Armor  two 
or  three  feet  thick  and  half  a  hundred  great  guns  were  considered 
the  acme  of  perfection  in  battle-ships.  But  heavy  battle-ships  are 
necessarily  slow,  and  during  recent  years  the  development  has 
been  towards  lighter  and  speedier  fighting  craft.  What  does  the 
superiority  of  the  heavy  battle-ship  count  for  over  the  swift  cruiser 
if  she  cannot  steam  as  fast,  and  so  cannot  catch  the  latter?  The 
advantage  is  with  the  heavier  vessel  only  when  the  lighter  craft 
is  blockaded. 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY  ON    THE    SEAS 


151 


While  the  building  of  heavy  battle-ships  has  not  ceased,  at 
least  twice  as  many  armed  cruisers  are  being  constructed  as  of 
the  heavier  craft.  The  cruiser  is  really  nothing  but  a  battle-ship 
with  lighter  armor  and  more  speed,  and  usually  less  metal-throwing 
ability. 

The  greatest  novelty  in  modern  battle-ship  construction  is  the 
superimposed  turret,  placed  both  fore  and  aft  on  the  Kearsarge 
and  Kentucky,  two  of  the  most  powerful  vessels  of  the  United 
States  navy.     Critics  have  found  all  manner  of  fault  with  the  de- 


Copyright,  189S,  by  Wni.  H.  Rau. 

First-Class  Battle-Ship  Kearsarge,  showing  Double  Turrets. 

sign,  in  fact,  no  naval  construction  of  recent  years  has  been  subject 
to  so  much  criticism ;  yet  the  defenders  of  this  construction  seem 
to  have  met  the  critics  fairly  at  all  points,  and  the  officers  and 
crews  of  the  vessels  appear  to  be  satisfied  with  them.  The  idea 
of  a  turret  on  a  battle-ship  is  to  have  a  protection  or  housing  for 
a  large  gun,  that  will  permit  the  gun  to  be  turned  very  nearly  to 
all  points  of  the  horizon,  and  so  cover  an  enemy,  whatever  his 
direction.  A  gun  which  will  shoot  to  both  port  and  starboard  is 
manifestly  as  good  as  tw^o  guns,  each  of  which  is  fixed  on  one 
side,  with  only  a  small  side  range.     The  average  turret-gun  can 


152 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


cover  two  or  three  times  as  much  of  the  horizon  as  a  gun  set  on 
the  side.  By  having  two  double  turrets  these  battle-ships  can  use 
two  guns  in  each  turret,  the  lower  ones  being  thirteen-inch  rifles, 
and  the  upper  ones  eight-inch.  As  compared  with  the  Oregon, 
which  is  of  the  more  usual  type  of  battle-ship,  the  Kentucky  sub- 
stitutes four  eight-inch  turret-guns  for  eight  eight-inch  guns  located 
on  the  side  ports.  There  is  a  gain  in  firing  ability,  as  just  as  much 
shot  can  be  fired  on  either  side,  and  two  guns  are  gained  for  ahead 
or  astern  fire.  The  expense  and  weight  and  room  of  the  four  guns 
are  a  clear  saving. 


Copyright,  1898,  by  C    H    Graves 


First-Class  Battle-Ship  Iowa. 


In  objection  to  these  manifest  gains,  the  critics  urge:  (i) 
that  the  accumulation  of  weight  at  the  ends  of  the  vessel  impairs 
her  seaworthiness;  (2) that  complication  results  from  crowding 
in  so  small  a  space  four  ammunition  hoists  for  each  double  turret, 
and  the  mechanism  for  working  them;  (3)  that  firing  the  four 
heavy  guns  simultaneously  is  not  practical,  because  of  the  tre- 
mendous recoil;  (4)  that  all  four  guns  in  a  turret  might  be  dis- 
abled by  a  single  shot;  (5)  that  it  is  impossible  to  direct  the  four 
guns  of  a  double  turret  in  different  directions  at  the  same  time; 


THE  RACE  FOR  SUPREMACY  ON  THE  SEAS 


153 


(6)   that  the  gunners  sighting  three  of  the  guns  would  always  be 
disconcerted  by  the  firing  of  the  fourth. 

It  would  appear  to  an  outsider,  from  all  this,  that  the  Kentucky 
with  her  double  turrets  would  make  a  better  showing  in  a  fight  than 


the  Oregon,  unless  a  heavy  shot  disabled  a  turret,  a  thing  rather 
unlikely,  as  the  walls  of  the  turret  are  fifteen  inches  of  steel  backed 
by  timbers,  and,  being  curved,  a  shot  would  usually  strike  them 


154 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


at  an  angle  and  glance.    After  a  great  deal  of  discussion  the  Naval 
Board  of  Construction  decided  to  agree  to  the  building  of  more 


vessels  with  superimposed  turrets.  Another  point  in  favor  of  the 
new  construction  was  gained  when  the  Kearsarge,  in  July,  1903, 
broke  all  records  for  long-distance  battle-ship  runs,  by  steaming 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY  ON    THE    SEAS 


155 


from  the  Needles  to  Mount  Desert,  a  distance  of  2900  miles,  in 
nine  days,  four  and  a  quarter  hours,  including  the  difference  in 
time.  The  average  per  hour  was  13.16  knots.  This  trip  was 
undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  President  Roosevelt,  and  demon- 
strated that  this  battle-ship  could  make  record  speed  and  yet  arrive 
in  fighting  trim.  It  should  be  stated  in  this  connection  that  the 
Illinois  and  Iowa  both  hold  better  records  for  a  short  distance 
than  the  Kearsarge.  Doubtless  the  reduction  in  weight  of  the 
Kearsarge  owing  to  the  use  of  the  turrets  had  much  to  do  with 
the  record  she  made.  The  battle-ship  that  gets  to  the  fighting  place 
in  time  for  a  scrap  is  certainly  worth  several  that  are  a  few  hun- 
dred miles  away. 

The  Maine  class  of  battle-ships,  which  includes  the  new  Maine, 
the  Missouri,  and  the  Ohio,  was  authorized  in  1898.  These  were 
designed  for  a  speed  of  eighteen  knots,  but  on  her  trial  trip,  Octo- 
ber 21,  1903,  the  Missouri  showed  considerably  greater  speed  in 
a  four  hours'  run.  In  some  respects  these  are  the  finest  battle- 
ships afloat.  Their  displacement  is  12,300  tons,  length  388  feet, 
the  Krupp  armor  is  eleven  inches  at  the  thickest  part  of  the  belt, 
and  in  the  turrets  and  barbettes  twelve  inches.  The  turrets  are 
single,  carrying  each  two  twelve-inch  guns.  There  are  also  six- 
teen six-inch  guns  and  twenty-four  smaller  guns,  besides  two  tor- 
pedo-tubes. The  coal  capacity  is  2000  tons,  stored  so  as  to  protect 
the  machinery  when  the  bunkers  are  full,  a  plan  adopted  in  all 
modern  war-vessels. 

The  Georgia  class  of  battle-ships,  which  includes  the  Georgia, 
Nebraska,  New  Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  and  Virginia,  authorized 
by  Congress  in  1901,  forms  the  largest  and  heaviest  of  American 
battle-ships  up  to  that  date.  They  are  435  feet  in  length,  with  a 
displacement  just  under  15,000  tons,  a  beam  of  ydy^  feet,  and  a 
draft  of  235^2  feet.  There  are  two  turrets  just  forward  of  the 
middle,  and  double  turrets  fore  and  aft,  giving  a  total  of  twelve 
turret  guns.  With  either  bow  or  stern  to  a  foe,  thus  presenting  a 
very  small  mark,  shells  can  be  poured  in  from  eight  great  guns  and 
a  number  of  the  six-inch  guns.  Wood  is  used  very  sparingly  in 
the  construction,  the  general  opinion  of  late  being  that  it  is  a  dis- 
advantage in  a  warship.  There  is,  however,  a  cellulose  belt  three 
feet  in  thickness  all  around  the  sides,  so  arranged  that,  if  a  shot 
penetrates  and  lets  in  the  water,  the  cellulose  will  swell  and  fill 
the  hole,  thus  stopping  the  leak.  The  engines  develop  19,000 
horse-power,  and  steam  is  carried  at  250  pounds,  securing  a  nine- 
teen-knot  speed  capacity. 


156 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  most  powerful  battle-ship  of  the  United  States  navy  is 
the  Connecticut,  authorized  by  Congress  in  1902  and  in  process  of 
construction  at  this  writing.  This  fine  vessel,  a  diagram  of  which 
is  shown  here,  taken  directly  from  the  specification  drawings  of 
the  Navy  Department,  is  450  feet  long,  yj  feet  beam,  and  of 
16,000  tons  displacement;  her  draft  is  24^  feet  and  she  is  calcu- 
lated for  a  speed  of  eighteen  knots. 

The  defensive  armor  of  the  Connecticut  consists  of  a  water- 
line  belt  eleven  inches  thick  amidships  and  tapering  to  four  inches 
at  the  stem  and  stern.  The  casement  armor  is  six  inches  in  thick- 
ness and  at  some  points  seven  inches.  The  twelve-inch  barbettes 
extend  from  the  protective  deck  to  about  four  feet  above  the  main 
deck,  and  are  ten  inches  thick  in  front  and  seven  and  one-half 
inches  thick  in  the  rear,  above  the  gun-deck.  The  twelve-inch 
turrets  will  have  a  front  plate  of  twelve  inches  and  rear  plates  of 


Diagram  of  the  United  States  Battle-Ship  Connecticut. 


eight  inches.  The  complete  protective  deck  extends  from  stem  to 
stern,  being  sloped  at  the  ends  and  sides. 

The  armament  consists  of  a  main  battery  of  four  twelve-inch 
rifles,  mounted  in  turrets  fore  and  aft,  eight  eight-inch  rifles,  and 
twelve  seven-inch  rifles,  all  breech-loaders.  The  secondary  bat- 
tery consists  of  twenty  three-inch  guns,  twelve  three-pounder  semi- 
automatic guns,  six  one-pounders,  and  a  number  of  smaller  guns. 

The  horse-power  of  the  engines  is  rated  at  16,500;  they  are 
of  the  triple-expansion  type  and  the  steam  is  used  at  a  pressure  of 
250  pounds.  Four  more  battle-ships  of  the  same  pattern  have 
been  authorized  by  Congress.  The  vessel  is  designed  as  a  flagship, 
and  the  arrangement  of  quarters  provides  ample  accommodations 
for  officers  and  nearly  800  men.  The  contract  price  of  construc- 
tion is  $4,212,000. 

Of  the  United  States  cruisers  the  Brooklyn  is  a  shining  ex- 


THE  RACE  FOR  SUPREMACY  ON  THE  SEAS 


157 


ample  of  what  such  a  craft  should  be.     Though  carrying  defensive 
armor  not  much  more  than  half  as  heavy  as  a  battle-ship,  she  sus- 


tained the   impact   of   forty   Spanish   shells   at   Santiago   without 
serious    injury 


She    is    American-built,    having    come    out    of 


158  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

Cramp's  ship-yards  at  a  cost  a  little  under  $3,000,000.  She  is  400 
feet  long  and  can  steam  almost  twenty-two  knots.  Her  largest 
guns  are  eight  eight-inch  breech-loading  rifles. 

But  if  the  Brooklyn  is  a  fine  war-vessel,  she  is  outclassed  by  the 
six  new  cruisers  of  the  Maryland  class,  named  the  Maryland,  CaH- 
fornia,  Colorado,  Pennsylvania,  South  Dakota,  and  West  Virginia. 
These  magnificent  ships  are  over  500  feet  long.  The  protective  belt 
is  six  inches  thick  at  the  thickest  portion,  and  on  top  of  this  for  a  con- 
siderable distance  are  five  more  inches  of  armor,  so  that  the  protec- 
tion almost  equals  that  of  a  battle-ship.  While  they  have  no  guns 
larger  than  eight-inch,  there  is  a  very  large  number  of  medium-sized 
guns,  that  can  be  fired  very  rapidly,  as  witness  the  following  enumer- 
ation :  four  eight-inch  rifles,  fourteen  six-inch  rapid-fire  guns,  eigh- 
teen fourteen-pounders,  twelve  three-pounders,  eight  one-pounders, 
two  three-inch  field-guns,  two  machine-guns,  and  six  small-caliber 
pieces  for  use  in  boats.  The  eight-inch  guns  are  mounted  in  turrets 
fore  and  aft,  and  the  majority  of  the  six-inch  guns  are  mounted 
with  such  a  large  arc  that  they  can  be  fired  either  dead  ahead  or 
dead  astern,  as  well  as  broadside,  in  fact  four  of  them  swing  through 
arcs  of  145  degrees.  Thus  half  or  more  than  half  of  the  battery 
is  available  in  any  direction.  There  are  also  two  torpedo-tubes, 
arranged  to  be  fired  from  stations  above. 

The  ammunition  magazines  are  carefully  insulated,  to  avoid  any 
possible  contact  with  fire,  and  they  are  mostly  arranged  to  be  kept 
chilled  by  refrigerating  plants.  There  is  capacity  for  500  rounds 
of  ammunition  for  the  eight-inch  guns,  2800  rounds  for  the  six- 
inch,  4500  for  the  fourteen-pounders,  and  an  increasingly  liberal 
supply  for  the  smaller  guns,  which  is  enough,  if  rightly  directed,  to 
send  several  large  navies  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  Of  course, 
there  are  water-tight  bulkheads,  dividing  the  ships  into  water 
compartments,  and  the  doors  in  these  can  be  shut  automatically 
from  a  controlling  station,  so  that  the  effects  of  even  a  large  breach 
may  be  localized  and  prevented  from  sinking  the  ship.  These 
cruisers  are  designed  for  speeds  of  twenty-two  knots,  which  can 
mostly  be  exceeded,  so  that  they  are  practically  as  fast  as  any  large 
vessels  afloat,  being  exceeded  by  only  four  or  five  Atlantic  liners 
and  the  British  cruisers  of  the  King  Alfred  class. 

In  order  to  afford  a  comparison  of  our  cruisers  with  those  of 
foreign  build,  the  following  table  has  been  prepared,  in  which  the 
Charleston,  completed  in  1896,  of  a  grade  below  our  Maryland 
class,  is  placed  against  the  Esmeralda,  the  crack  cruiser  of  the 
Chilean  navy,  and  the  Monmouth,  of  the  British  navy. 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY   ON    THE    SEAS  159 

United  States.  Chile.  Great  Britain. 

Charleston.  Esmeralda.  Monmouth. 

Length  on  load  water-line 424  feet  436  feet  440  feet. 

Beam,  e.xtreme  66  feet  53  feet  66  feet. 

Draft 23  feet  6  inches  20  feet  3  inches  24  feet  6  inches. 

Displacement 9700  tons  7000  tons  9800  tons. 

roal  qiinnlv  I  "°''"^^'  650  tons  55010ns  800  tons. 

^       °"yt"'  j  maximum  1500  tons  1350  tons  1600  tons. 

Speed 22  knots  23.05  knots  23  knots. - 

Protection. 

Charleston.  Esmeralda.  Monmouth. 

Four-inch  belt  197  feet  long   by      Six-inch  belt  350  by  7  Four  inches,  tapering  to  two  inches 

•j%  feet  wide  at  bow. 

Two-and-a-half  inch    deck    pro-      Two-inch  deck  Two    protective  decks,  one-and-a- 

tection  to  vilals  quarter  inches  and  three-quarters 

inch. 
Two-inch  bulkheads  Six-inch  bulkheads 

Upper  and  lower  casemate  armor 

four  inches 
iFour-inch  protection    to    6-inch  Four-inch  protection  to  6-iii.  guns. 

guns 
Conning-tower  and   shields  five      Four-and-a-half  inch  shields 

inches 
Three-inch  hoists  Four-and-a-half  inch  hoists 

Four-inch  signal  tower  . 

Armament. 

Fourteen  6-inch  Two  S-inch  Four-inch  R.  F.  guns  in  turrets. 

Eighteen  3-iiich  Sixteen  6-inch  Ten  6-inch  R.  F.  guns  in  casemates. 

Twelve  3-pounder  Eight  3-inch  Ten  12-pounder  R.  F.  guns. 

Twelve  i  pounder  Nine  6-pounders  Three  3-pounder  R.  F.  guns. 

Two  3-inch  field-guns  Two  3-pounders  Eight  machine-guns. 

Two  Catlings  Eight  Maxims 
Eight  Colts  of  0.30 

Torpedo-tubes,  nil  }  S^Te^alt'^^e'r. 

Both  the  foreign  cruisers  cited  are  longer  and  swifter  than 
the  American,  and  the  Chilean  is  superior  in  having  a  torpedo 
outfit.  The  Charleston  has  some  minor  advantages  in  protection, 
especially  as  to  casemate  armor ;  but  the  most  noteworthy  differ- 
ence is  in  the  armament,  which  exhibits  the  American  practice  of 
securing  first  all  the  metal-throwing  ability  that  can  be  had  from 
a  given  size  and  weight  of  craft,  and  putting  this  into  as  many 
rapid-fire  guns  as  possible,  these  proving  the  most  effective  in 
engagement. 

At  the  close  of  1901  the  United  States  navy  included  thirty- 
five  torpedo-boats  varying  in  size  and  speed  from  the  Gwin,  of 
forty-six  tons  and  twenty-one  knots  speed,  to  the  Farragut,  Golds- 
borough,  and  Bailey,  all  of  which  are  over  250  tons  displacement 
and  about  thirty  knots  speed.  The  Farragut,  which  is  one  of  the 
fastest  of  her  class,  was  built  at  the  Union  Iron  Works,  San 
Francisco,  and  is  213  feet  on  the  water-line,  with  a  beam  of  twenty 
and  one-half  feet,  and  draft  of  six  feet,  and  has  twin  screws  and 
triple  expansion  engines  of  5600  horse-power.  On  her  trial  trip 
she  made  a  speed  of  30.13  knots  per  hour.  Her  armament  con- 
sists of  two  long  eighteen-inch  Whitehead  torpedo-tubes  and  four 
six-pounder  rapid-fire  guns. 

The  torpedo-boat  destroyers  of  the  United  States  are  larger 


l6o  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

than  the  torpedo-boats,  nine  of  those  recently  built  being  of  420 
tons  displacement,  and  designed  for  speeds  of  twenty-eight  or 
twenty-nine  knots,  with  horse-power  of  8000. 

The  first  vessel  to  be  fitted  with  the  Parsons  marine  steam- 
turbine  was  the  Turbinia,  which  was  launched  in  1896,  and  took 
the  record  for  speed  at  that  time  and  created  a  reputation  for  the 
steam-turbine  which  it  has  held  ever  since.  Her  horse-power  was 
2300  and  her  recorded  speed  thirty-four  and  one-half  knots  (or 
thirty-nine  and  one-half  land  miles).  Other  vessels  fitted  with  the 
steam  form  of  turbine,  subject  to  such  improvements  as  have  been 
developed,  are  the  Viper,  which  made  a  speed  of  about  forty-two 
land  miles  per  hour.  This  required,  however,  the  enormous  horse- 
power of  12,300.  These  vessels,  together  with  the  Cobra,  all 
belong  to  the  British  navy.  The  latter  made  a  speed  of  35.6 
knots,  or  nearly  forty-one  land  miles.  Both  the  Viper  and  Cobra 
were  lost  in  1901.  The  former  ran  on  a  rock  in  a  thick  fog;  the 
latter  went  down  on  the  outer  Dowsing  Shoal,  while  making  a  trip 
from  Tyne  to  Portsmouth. 

The  first  British  passenger  vessel  to  be  fitted  with  the  Par- 
sons turbine  was  the  King  Edward,  built  in  1901,  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  companion  vessel.  Queen  Alexandra,  built  in  1902.  As 
these  two  boats  are  of  a  type  that  promises  to  come  into  consider- 
able use,  a  description  of  one  will  be  of  interest  here.  Both  of 
them  were  built  on  the  Clyde,  and  the  Queen  Alexandra  is  the 
larger,  being-  270  feet  long,  and  thirty-two  feet  beam,  and  having 
a  draft  of  eleven  and  one-half  feet.  Her  speed  is  about  twenty- 
two  knots,  and  she  has  proved  a  little  faster  than  the  King  Edward. 
Both  these  vessels  are  run  regularly  on  the  Clyde  in  the  summer 
months  at  twenty  or  twenty-one  knots.  There  are  one  high- 
pressure  and  two  low-pressure  turbines,  the  high-pressure  one  being 
in  the  centre  and  driving  the  central  propeller,  while  the  two  low- 
pressure  turbines  each  drive  two  propellers,  making  a  total  of  five 
in  use.  The  central  propeller  is  the  largest,  and  makes  900  revolu- 
tions on  its  shaft  per  minute,  while  the  outer  propellers  make  1000 
revolutions. 

Many  experts  believe  that  the  turbine  is  destined  to  succeed 
the  cylinder  and  piston  method  of  driving  the  propellers  of  all 
classes  of  steamships.  Mr.  Parsons  contends  that  the  Atlantic 
liners,  as  well  as  large  cruisers  and  battle-ships,  would  gain  more 
from  adopting  them  than  do  the  small  torpedo-boats;  as  large 
turbines  are  cheaper  to  build  in  proportion  and  occupy  less  space 
than  the  older  mechanism.     For  a  description  of  the  construction 


l62  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

and  operation  of  steam-turbines,  see  the  chapter  entitled  "  Progress 
in  Power  Producers." 

The  honor  has  been  reserved  for  an  American  steam-yacht 
to  beat  all  speed  records  on  the  water,  and  that,  too,  over  the  same 
route  made  famous  by  Robert  Fulton,  the  father  of  the  steamboat. 
September  6,  1902,  Charles  R.  Flint's  steam-yacht  Arrow  made  a 
nautical  mile,  which  is  longer  than  a  land  mile,  in  ninety-two  seconds, 
the  speed  being  the  equivalent  of  a  little  over  forty-four  miles  per 
hour.  This  record  is  materially  in  advance  of  that  of  other  boats 
of  the  same  character,  or  of  any  other  sort  afloat.  The  Ellide 
attained  a  speed  of  thirty-nine  statute  miles  an  hour,  while  the 
Porter's  best  was  thirty-three  statute  miles,  and  the  Vamoose  made 
over  twenty-four  statute  miles  in  an  hour.  All  these  vessels  were 
built  in  Nyack,  N.  Y.,  upon  plans  of  Charles  D.  Mosher,  who  has 
thereby  attained  a  deserved  reputation. 

The  Arrow  was  designed  for  a  speed  of  forty  knots,  and  is 
130  feet  long  on  the.  water-line,  Mnth  a  beam  of  twelve  and  one- 
half  feet,  and  a  normal  draft  amidships  of  three  and  one-half  feet. 
Her  coal-bunker  capacity  is  seventeen  tons  and  water-tank  capacity 
1500  gallons.  The  engines,  which  are  of  4000  horse-power,  are 
of  the  Mosher  patent,  and  quadruple  expansion.  The  water-tube 
boilers  are  also  Mosher's  patent.  Each  of  these  boilers  has  a 
heating  surface  of  5540  square  feet,  and  is  designed  to  sustain 
a  pressure  of  444  pounds  to  the  square  inch.  Their  weight  with 
water  per  square  foot  of  heating  surface  is  six  and  a  third  pounds. 
The  cylinders  of  the  engines  are  designed  to  work  at  pressures  of 
350  and  400  pounds,  the  piston-speed  being  1500  feet. 

In  making  her  record  trip,  the  Arrow  used  picked  egg  an- 
thracite coal,  of  a  quality  so  near  to  perfection  that  those  who 
watched  the  race  saw  scarcely  any  smoke  coming  from  her  stack. 
The  test  was  remarkable  in  that  the  boat  did  not  raise  unusual 
waves  nor  was  it  subject  to  violent  vibrations,  the  twin  screws 
carrying  it  along  with  a  very  uniform  motion.  The  record  caused 
some  criticism  at  the  time,  owing  to  the  fact  that  no  indicator 
cards  were  taken,  from  which  an  analysis  of  the  performance  of 
the  engines  could  be  made,  and  because  it  was  not  demonstrated 
that  the  speed  could  be  maintained  for  a  continuous  run  of  five  or 
six  miles.  The  Arrow,  while  fitted  up  as  a  pleasure-yacht,  is  capable 
of  being  transformed  into  a  torpedo-boat  in  a  very  short  time. 
She  also  can  be  fitted  with  additional  coal  capacity  so  as  to  make 
possible  a  cruise  of  3000  miles. 

When  repairs  are  to  be  made  to  the  hull  of  a  large  vessel,  she 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY    ON    THE    SEAS 


163 


has  to  be  placed  in  a  dry-dock.     These  docks  are  of  two  kinds :   sta- 
tionary, such  as  those  in  which  vessels  are  often  constructed,  and 


Copyright,  1903,  Detroit  Photographic  Company. 


Steamer  in  Floating  Dock. 

floating,  which  are  arranged  to  raise  a  vessel  out  of  the  water.     One 
of  each  has  been  selected  for  illustration  here. 


Dry-Dock  of  Detroit  Shipbuilding  Company. 


In  1804,  just  one  hundred  years  ago,  a  Colonel  A.  E.  Stevens 
made  a  design  for  a  steam-vessel  to  be  driven  by  twin  propeller- 


l64  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

screws,  but  never  completed  his  device,  and  the  value  of  the  pro- 
peller was  not  demonstrated  until  about  1840,  while  the  twin  pro- 
pellers have  only  come  into  use  in  recent  years  on  the  great 
Atlantic  liners.  The  race  for  the  record  between  New  York  and 
London  has  been  keen  for  over  sixty  years,  and  there  has  been  a 
long  line  of  steamboats,  each  distinguished  in  its  day  as  the  Queen 
of  the  Atlantic.  From  the  time  of  the  Great  Western,  whose  trips 
in  1838  created  interest  in  both  continents,  the  Great  Eastern,  that 
Leviathan  of  the  deep  blue  sea,  built  in  1858,  more  than  thirty 
years  before  a  demand  for  such  a  vessel — from  these  times  on, 
there  have  been  continuous  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  steamship 
companies  competing  for  the  passenger  trade  between  Europe  and 
America  to  outdo  each  other. 

The  New  Yorker,  who  opens  a  letter  on  a  Saturday  and  finds 
it  dated  from  London  the  Saturday  before,  probably  forgets  that 
in  1800  the  time  of  travel  for  such  a  letter  was  a  question  of 
weeks  and  not  of  days.  The  present  transatlantic  mail  service, 
made  possible  by  the  fast  steamships,  brings  the  new  resident  of 
America  into  closer  touch  with  his  relatives  in  the  old  country 
than  were  his  forefathers  when  separated  by  a  distance  of  a  few 
hundred  miles.  We  now  receive  our  foreign  newspapers  and 
magazines  before  the  pith  and  point  of  their  articles  are  lost  by 
the  lapse  of  time,  and  the  English,  German,  and  French  reader 
of  American  periodicals  is  able  to  keep  well  informed  regarding 
our  progress  on  this  side  of  the  great  pond. 

The  following  table  affords  a  rough  idea  of  the  development 
of  Atlantic  liners  in  size  and  speed : 


845 
858 

871 
881 

893 


901 

903 
904 


Progress  in  Size. 

Great  Western  first  to  exceed  200  feet  in  length. 

Great  Britain  first  to  exceed  300  feet  in  length. 

Great  Eastern  680  feet  in  length,  but  not  an  Atlantic  liner. 

Oceanic  (I)  first  to  exceed  400  feet  in  length. 

Servia  first  to  exceed  500  feet  in  length. 

Campania  first  to  exceed  600  feet  in  length. 

Oceanic  (II)  first  to  exceed  700  feet  in  length. 

Celtic  700  feet  in  length. 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.  706^  feet  in  length. 

Baltic  726  feet  in  length. 

Reduction  in  Time. 


1862.  Scotia,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  9  days. 

1869.  City  of  Brussels,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  8  days. 

1874.  Germanic,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  7^  days. 

1882.  Alaska,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  7  days. 

1884.  Oregon,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  6^  days. 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY    ON    THE    SEAS 


165 


i««5 
1889 
1891 
1894 
1904 


Etruria,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  6%  days. 
City  of  Paris,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  6  days. 
Teutonic,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  5^  days. 
Campania,  first  to  cross  in  less  than  SjA  days. 
Lucania,  first  to  cross  in  5  days,  7  hours,  23  minutes. 


In  1888  there  was  brought  out  the  largest  vessel  up  to  that  time 
(excepting  the  Great  Eastern,  being  the  Paris,  of  13,000  tons  dis- 


A  16,000  Horse-Power  Marine  Engine. 


placement  and  560  feet  over  all.  Two  years  later  there  appeared 
the  Teutonic,  which  was  twenty-five  feet  longer,  though  of  less 
beam  and  displacement.  Both  these  fine  vessels  developed  per- 
manent speeds   of  twenty  knots   an  hour,   which  has  been   only 


l66  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

slightly  exceeded  by  later  candidates  for  public  favor.  During 
1893  and  1894  the  Cunard  line  brought  out  the  twins  Lucania 
and  Campania,  each  of  them  635  feet  in  length  and  developing  a 
speed  of  twenty-two  knots.  For  many  months  these  boats  took 
turns  in  reducing  the  record  in  both  directions  across  the  Atlantic, 
bringing  the  time  to  less  than  five  days,  eight  hours,  a  speed  which 
has  not  been  exceeded  by  the  larger  craft  built  since.  The  Ameri- 
can line  constructed  in  1895  the  St.  Louis  and  St.  Paul,  which  are 
some  60  feet  shorter  than  the  Campania  and  of  about  three-quar- 
ters the  displacement.  Their  speed,  however,  is  only  slightly  less, 
being  commonly  twenty-one  knots.  It  is  the  German  lines  that 
have  shown  such  tremendous  energy  in  developing  both  the  big- 
gest and  perhaps  the  fastest  ocean  steamers,  having  outbuilt  the 
Great  Eastern  in  both  length  and  draft  some  years  ago.  As  their 
route  is  longer  than  that  of  the  London-New  York  boats,  there  is 
no  comparison  practicable  as  to  transatlantic  time.  In  1898  the 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse  was  launched,  she  having  a  length  of 
6485^  feet  and  a  tonnage  of  almost  22,000.  This  great  vessel 
established  a  speed  of  twenty-three  knots.  The  next  great  boat 
built  by  the  German  line  was  the  Deutschland,  brought  out  in 
1900  and  having  a  length  of  684  feet,  with  a  displacement  of 
23,620  tons.  Her  speed  proved  to  be  a  little  better  than  that  of 
the  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  and  she  is  rated  at  about  23^4  knots,  as  are 
also  the  Kronprinz  Wilhelm  and  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.  These 
last-named  measure  respectively  663  and  706^  feet  in  length. 
In  connection  with  these  record-breakers  there  should  be  men- 
tioned the  Oceanic,  built  in  1899,  and  704  feet  long,  and  the 
Cedric,  built  in  1902,  and  700  feet  in  length.  Neither  of  these 
boats  is  intended  to  be  of  great  speed,  although  the  Oceanic  makes 
20.7  knots,  which  would  have  been  considered  fast  a  few  years 
earlier.  The  Cedric,  which  was  until  recently  by  far  the  largest 
vessel  afloat,  though  a  little  shorter  than  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II., 
exceeds  her  in  displacement  by  nearly  12.000  tons,  having  not 
only  a  greater  beam  but  the  tremendous  draft  of  365^  feet.  As 
her  engines  are  scarcely  a  third  the  horse-power  of  the  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  II.,  her  speed  of  sixteen  knots  is  very  creditable.  It  is 
interesting  to  compare  this  gigantic  freighter  with  the  Great  East- 
ern, her  prototype  of  forty-six  years  earlier.  The  Cedric  is  eight 
feet  the  longer  and  eight  feet  less  in  width,  of  eleven  feet  greater 
draft  and  nearly  11,000  tons  greater  displacement,  while  the 
Cedric's  speed  is  four  knots  faster  than  that  of  the  Great  Eastern. 
A  description  of  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.  will  answer  generally 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY    ON    THE    SEAS  167 

for  all  the  great  vessels  of  her  class.  If  placed  on  Broadway,  New 
York,  she  would  not  touch  the  curb  on  either  side,  but  in  length 
would  cover  slightly  more  than  three  blocks — that  is  to  say,  she 
would  be  visible  from  four  side  streets.  Her  deck  would  permit 
passengers  to  look  into  the  sixth-story  windows,  and  she  would 
furnish  as  great  interior  accommodation  as  the  biggest  sky-scraper 
on  this  thoroughfare  noted  for  its  steel  business  towers.  Her 
passenger  capacity  is  775  first-class,  343  second-class,  and  770 
third-class.  The  crew  consists  of  48  engineers  and  greasers,  229 
stokers  and  trimmers,  170  stewards  and  waiters,  besides  61  cooks 
and  46  sailors.  The  last  figure  is  almost  humorous,  showing  that 
these    floating   palaces    have    nearly    dispensed    with    the    old-time 


Crank-Shafts  of  Ocean  Steamship,  made  by  Bethlehem  Steel  Company. 

sailor  from  their  list  of  necessities.  The  first-class  dining-room 
is  the  largest  afloat,  seating  550  people.  The  enormous  horse- 
power, 40,000,  required  to  drive  this  great  vessel,  is  obtained  at 
considerable  sacrifice  of  space  for  boilers  and  engines.  In  order  to 
keep  down  the  size  of  the  engines,  four  of  them  were  constructed, 
each  having  four  cylinders  for  quadruple  expansion.  Two  engines 
are  arranged  to  drive  each  of  the  great  bronze  propellers,  which 
are  nearly  twenty-three  feet  in  diameter.  Some  idea  of  the  great 
strength  of  the  machinery  may  be  gathered  from  the  statement 
that,  although  the  steel  used  is  of  the  very  highest  grade  of 
strength,  one  complete  crank  for  one  pair  of  engines  weighs 
288,000  pounds,  while  the  propeller  shafts  weigh  160,000  pounds 


l68  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

each.  In  casting  one  of  these  tremendous  shafts  there  was  in- 
volved the  pouring  of  metal  simultaneously  heated  in  1768  cruci- 
bles, and,  as  the  pouring  out  had  to  be  done  in  about  half  an  hour, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  work  was  no  easy  task. 

To  make  steam  for  these  four  great  engines  nineteen  separate 
boilers  are  required,  twelve  being  double-ended.  The  coal  con- 
sumed is  over  600  tons  a  day,  and  the  total  heating  surface  is  over 
two  and  one-half  acres.  Notwithstanding  the  enormous  size  and 
great  number  of  these  boilers,  and  the  dimensions  of  the  engines, 
the  steam  has  to  be  used  at  a  pressure  of  225  pounds  to  the  square 
inch  in  order,  to  secure  the  necessary  speed. 


Rudder  and  Propellers  of  Ocean  Steamship. 

The  provisioning  of  one  of  these  great  liners  for  a  six-day 
trip  across  the  Atlantic  is  a  job  equivalent  to  that  undertaken  by 
Noah  in  the  days  of  the  Ark.  The  stock  usually  includes  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  of  fresh  meat,  twelve  to 
fifteen  thousand  pounds  of  salt  beef  and  mutton,  twenty-five  thou- 
sand pounds  of  ham,  thirteen  hundred  pounds  of  bacon,  and  five 
hundred  pounds  of  sausage,  together  with  five  thousand  pounds  of 
poultry.  The  vegetables  total  up  to  eighty-five  thousand  pounds, 
of  which  sixty  thousand  pounds  are  potatoes,  while  the  eggs  num- 
ber twenty-five  thousand.  Some  thirty  thousand  pounds  of  the 
staff  of  life  supply  the  demand  for  bread  on  a  voyage,  and  there 
should  also  be  mentioned  some  twenty-five  hundred  pounds  of  fish, 
thirty-eight  thousand  pounds  of  fruits,  and  nearly  two  thousand 
gallons  of  milk.     The  drinkables  of  a  stronger  character  than  milk 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY    ON    THE    SEAS  169 

figure  up  to  about  five  thousand  bottles  of  wine  and  liquors  and 
three  thousand  gallons  of  beer.  The  necessity  for  carrying  ice  is 
usually  obviated  by  the  use  of  refrigerating  machines. 

The  White  Star  line's  new  steamship,  the  Baltic,  which  was 
launched  about  the  close  of  1903,  is  the  largest  vessel  afloat, 
and  in  many  respects  the  finest,  though  having  no  pretensions  to 
great  speed.  She  is  726  feet  in  length,  of  75  feet  beam,  49  feet 
deep,  and  has  a  gross  tonnage  of  24,000;  the  cargo  capacity  is 
28,000  tons,  and  the  displacement  when  loaded  40,000  tons.  This 
vessel  is  similar  to  the  Cedric  in  her  general  design,  having  a  great 
number  of  decks  and  large  accommodation  for  passengers,  of 
whom  3000  can  be  carried,  in  addition  to  the  crew  of  350  men. 
She  has,  according  to  the  Marine  Revieiv,  "  a  continuous  shade-deck 
running  fore  and  aft,  with  three  tiers  of  deck-houses  and  two 
promenade-decks  above.  On  the  upper  promenade-deck  is  the 
first-class  smoking-room  and  library,  and  the  two  houses  below 
contain  the  deck  state-rooms.  The  first-class  dining-saloon  is  on 
the  upper  deck,  and  all  the  first-class  accommodation  is  amidships. 
Immediately  abaft  the  first-class  is  the  second-class  accommoda- 
tion, and  also  a  comfortable  smoking-room  and  library  for  this 
class.  The  third-class  passengers  are  provided  for  abaft  the 
second-class,  and  to  a  limited  extent  also  at  the  fore  end  of  the 
vessel.  A  great  feature  in  this  accommodation  is  the  large  number 
of  state-rooms  of  two,  three,  and  four  berths,  and  the  commodious 
and  comfortable  dining-rooms." 

The  engines  of  the  Baltic  are  of  the  quadruple-expansion  type 
and  about  13,000  horse-power,  which  should  give  a  speed  of  16^ 
knots.  The  advent  of  such  vessels  as  the  Baltic,  Cedric,  and  Celtic, 
all  of  which  are  designed  for  room  and  comfort  rather  than  as 
speed-record  breakers,  suggests  a  new  line  of  development  in 
ocean  steamships,  and  that  perhaps  the  ocean  vessels  of  the  future 
will  pay  more  attention  to  the  comfort  of  their  passengers  than  to 
a  reduction  of  the  time  consumed  crossing  the  Atlantic. 

The  modern  ocean  steamers  are  as  safe  as  dwellings  on 
shore,  being  built  with  numerous  air-tight  compartments  and 
double  bottoms,  so  that  it  would  be  possible  to  damage  the  hull  of 
one  to  the  length  of  a  hundred  feet  and  yet  there  would  be  no 
danger  of  sinking.  The  great  length  of  these  boats  prevents  the 
pitching  that  is  so  conducive  to  sea-sickness  in  smaller  vessels.  The 
vibration  is  also  reduced  with  twin  screws  and  an  increased  num- 
ber of  cranks  arranged  on  the  Schlick  system.  In  addition  to 
beautiful   drawing-rooms,    smoking-rooms,    libraries,    bath-rooms, 


I/O 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


and  promenade-decks,  there  is  always  a  complete  drug-store,  print- 
ing-office, barber-shop,  stationery-store,  and  all  other  minor  con- 
veniences to  which  people  of  means  are  accustomed. 

The  question  is  not  infrequently  asked  as  to  whether  this 
building  of  steamships  of  phenomenal  speed  is  going  to  stop.  The 
best  vessel  we  now  have  crosses  the  Atlantic  in  a  little  over  five 
days,  measuring  the  distance  from  the  most  extreme  points  of 
land.  The  Scientific  American  a  few  years  since  made  an  inter- 
esting calculation,  to  demonstrate  what  was  necessary  in  order  to 
produce  a  four-day  boat  for  transatlantic  travel,  having  the  en- 
during speed  of  thirty  knots  an  hour.  The  reason  why  we  can 
build  yachts  for  a  thirty-knot  speed,  while  we  have  not  yet  suc- 
ceeded in  building  better  than  twenty-four  knots  in  the  larger 
steamers,  is  that  we  have  not  given  up  in  the  large  steamers  the 
requisite  amount  of  space  for  boilers  and  carrying  coal.  Probably 
the  thirty-knot  vessel  capable  of  crossing  in  four  days  is  about  the 
limit  of  possibility  with  methods  now  known,  as  the  above  au- 
thority figures  that  the  vessel  would  require  to  be  930  feet  long 
and  of  110,000  horse-power, — that  is,  it  would  have  to  have  nearly 
three  times  as  much  engine  and  boiler  and  coal  capacity  as  the 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.  There  would  be  a  necessary  reduction  in  the 
amount  of  space  available  for  passengers,  crew,  and  baggage,  and 
the  amount  of  machinery  would  be  so  great  that  the  noise  and 
vibration  could  not  help  but  be  considerably  more  annoying  to  the 
passengers  than  they  are  in  the  present  steamships.  While  such 
a  construction  is  possible  mechanically,  it  does  not  look  as  if  it 
would  be  commercially  profitable  to  build  a  boat  on  these  lines. 

The  Deutschland,  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.,  and  other  boats 
of  that  class  cost  about  $7,000,000  each  for  construction,  and  the 
building  of  a  boat  at  a  cost  of  probably  $20,000,000,  to  save  a 
day  or  a  day  and  a  quarter  in  transit,  would  not  be  likely  to  prove 
profitable,  unless  there  were  other  gains  such  as  increased  carry- 
ing capacity  or  more  agreeable  surroundings  for  passengers.  The 
turbine  engine  is  looked  upon  by  many  as  likely  to  reduce  the  time 
across  the  Atlantic,  and  very  possibly  it  will  cut  off  a  few  hours. 
But  it  is  probable  that  the  public  will  have  to  wait  for  any  con- 
siderable increase  in  ocean  steamers  until  some  revolutionary  in- 
vention makes  it  possible  to  construct  a  boat  that  will  make  the 
trip  in  the  required  time  without  sacrificing  the  comfort  of  the 
passengers  or  ruining  the  steamship  companies  with  coal  bills. 

That  the  time  will  come  when  America  will  build  as  large  ships 
and  as  many  of  them  as  any  other  nation  is  firmly  believed  by  the 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY    ON    THE    SEAS 


171 


writer.  An  indication  of  what  can  be  done  in  our  yards  is  shown 
in  the  steamers  Kroonland  and  Finland,  of  the  International  Steam- 
ship Company,  these  being  each  of  about  13,000  tons  and  580 
feet  in  length.     They  were  built  by  the  Cramps,  and  are  of  steel 


The  Minnesota — Largest  American-built  Steamship. 

throughout.  But  the  largest  steamships  ever  constructed  in  Amer- 
ica are  the  Minnesota  and  her  sister  ship,  constructed  in  New 
London,  Connecticut,  for  the  Pacific  trade.  The  Minnesota  is 
primarily  a  freighter,  being  630  feet  long,  73  feet  in  beam,  and  of 


I 


172  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

a  moulded  depth  of  56  feet.  Her  displacement  is  larger  than  her 
length  and  depth  would  suggest,  as  she  is  much  broader  towards 
the  ends  than  the  Atlantic  liners,  which  are  designed  for  speed. 
The  result  of  this  formation  is  that  the  Minnesota  has  a  little 
greater  displacement  than  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.,  and  nearly  as 
much  as  the  Cedric. 

The  Minnesota  has  the  greatest  depth  of  any  vessel  on  the 
ocean,  and  is  remarkable  in  several  other  particulars.  Counting 
from  the  outer  bottom  to  the  bridge  there  are  no  less  than  eleven 
distinct  decks  or  levels.  First  is  the  space  between  the  outer  and 
inner  bottoms,  which  is  high  enough  for  a  man  to  stand  upright 
in;  then  come  the  orlop,  lower,  between,  main,  and  upper  decks, 
all  within  the  hull  or  steel  frame  of  the  vessel  proper.  Above  are 
the  upper  deck,  promenade  deck,  upper  promenade  and  boat  deck, 
and  yet  above  this  is  the  navigating  bridge,  the  last  being  ninety 
feet  above  the  keel.  The  upper  decks  are  so  high  above  the  water 
that  passengers  can  stay  out,  even  in  very  heavy  weather,  without 
danger  of  being  struck  by  the  combings  of  the  highest  waves. 

The  cargo  capacity  of  the  Minnesota  is  20,000  tons,  and  she 
can  carry  150  first-class  passengers,  100  second-class,  100  third- 
class,  and  1000  steerage,  and  in  emergency  can  convey  1200  troops 
also.  The  Minnesota  is  probably  the  strongest  and  stiffest  of  the 
great  steamers,  many  of  which  would  break  in  two  of  their  own 
weight  if  lifted  in  the  centre.  The  outer  bottom  steel  shell  is 
made  of  an  inch  and  a  quarter  of  the  best  steel  plating,  the  decks 
are  of  steel,  and  stringer  plates  are  worked  along  from  stem  to 
stern  between  the  main  and  upper  decks  for  stiffening.  A  con- 
tinuous central  longitudinal  bulkhead  extends  from  the  keel  to  the 
upper  deck,  checking  what  are  known  as  "  hogging"  strains.  This 
is  the  first  bulkhead  of  the  kind,  and  is  half  an  inch  thick  through 
the  greater  portion.  A  system  of  heavy  box  girders  is  substituted 
for  ordinary  stanchions  for  supporting  the  decks,  and  these,  being 
spaced  twenty  feet  apart,  not  only  enable  all  the  decks  to  sustain 
the  heaviest  loads  of  freight  at  any  point,  but  add  enormously  to 
the  stiffening  of  the  whole  structure.  There  are  fourteen  hatches 
for  taking  in  and  out  cargo,  and  one  of  them  is  large  enough  to 
enable  a  locomotive  to  be  lowered  complete  into  the  hold.  With 
a  horse-power  of  only  11,000  in  the  engines  a  speed  of  fourteen 
knots  is  obtained. 

A  particularly  American  type  of  vessel  is  the  whaleback,  com- 
monly used  on  the  Great  Lakes.  These  are  much  esteemed  as 
freighters.     The  illustration  affords  a  very  fair  notion  of  the  con- 


THE    RACE    FOR    SUPREMACY    ON    THE    SEAS 


173 


Among  river  boats  the  Priscilla,  running  between  New  York 
and  Fall  River,  is  probably  the  largest  and  best  equipped  in  the 
world,  being  over  440  feet  in  length  and  of  93  feet  beam.  It  has 
feathering  paddle-wheels  14  feet  wide  and  35  feet  in  diameter,  and 
is  credited  with  a  speed  of  slightly  more  than  twenty  miles  an  hour. 

While  the  preceding  descriptions  of  vessels  have  been  given 
from  an  American  view-point,  as  most  likely  to  interest  American 
readers,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Great  Britain  is  enormously 
ahead  of  us  in  ship-building,  and  that,  if  the  United  States  is  ever 
going  to  catch  up,  there  must  be  radical  changes  of  some  sort  that 
cannot  now  be  foreseen.     The  prevailing  impression  seems  to  be 


•0 


I 


Whaleback  in  Canal  Lock,  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 

that  American  legislation  should  favor  American-built  ships  if  the 
ship-building  industry  is  ever  to  develop  on  a  scale  proportionate 
with  other  American  industries. 

There  is  space  in  closing  for  but  one  short  note  in  regard  to 
progress  in  wind-driven  craft.  It  is  nothing  less  than  marvellous 
that,  after  many  thousand  years  of  boat-sailing,  some  one  should 
be  able  to  construct  a  sail  of  a  radically  new  type  that  should 
present  marked  points  of  superiority  over  the  sails  employed  for 
centuries.  Yet  this  is  exactly  what  the  new  umbrella-  or  cyclone- 
sail  does.  Shaped  something  like  an  ordinary  umbrella,  except 
that  it  is  elliptical  and  made  in  two  parts,  and  practically  flat,  it  is 
hung  by  the  centre  on  the  mast  of  a  boat,  and  so  arranged  that  one 


174 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


side  can  be  tipped  np,  the  other  going  down.  When  a  gale  of  wind 
strikes  this  sail,  it  does  not  tend  to  overturn  the  boat  or  cause  it  to 
careen  to  one  side,  but  has  rather  a  disposition  to  life  the  sail,  which 
acts  on  the  principle  of  a  kite,  and  has  no  more  tendency  to  upset  a 
boat  than  would  a  kite  attached  by  a  flexible  string. 


The  Umbrella-Boat. 


The  illustration,  which  is  taken  from  Popular  Mechanics, 
shows  the  original  boat  which  was  tried  at  Cowes,  England,  in  1903. 
She  is  only  seventeen  feet  long,  but  carries  a  sail  thirty  feet  in  the 
longest  dimension  and  sixteen  feet  the  other  way.  This  arrangement 
not  only  enables  a  boat  to  carry  a  very  much  larger  sail  than  she 
could  otherwise  employ,  but  also  serves  as  an  awning  or  protection 
from  the  sun.  For  sailing  with  the  wind  on  the  quarter,  the  mast 
and  sail  require  to  be  rotated  by  means  of  a  turn-table,  and  there  are 
also  other  oddities  of  construction.  It  is  expected  that  the  um- 
brella-sail will  come  into  large  use  on  small  pleasure-boats,  canoes, 
etc. 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


Man  is  naturally  a  fighting  animal ;  there  is  no  use  denying  it. 
A  prize-fight  will  draw  a  larger  crowd  at  higher  prices  than  a 
speech  by  the  greatest  orator;  historians  pay  more  attention  to 
glowing  accounts  of  wars  and  battles  than  to  the  slow  growth  of 
industries  and  science.  The  passion  to  fight,  perchance  to  kill,  is 
strong  in  the  race,  and  it  is  a  question  whether  civilization  has 
much  reduced  it.      Those   who   turn  their   genius   to   developing 


Submarine  Mines  and  Torpedoes. 
I,  Bottom  mines;   2,  anchored  mines;   3,  anchor;  4,  anchored  mine  with  tidal  adjustment  ;  5,  fish- 
torpedo;  7,  Holland  boat  discharging  torpedo;  8,  ram  "  Katahdin.' 

engines  of  war  and  destruction  term  themselves  peacemakers,  be- 
cause they  make  the  terrors  of  war  so  dreadful  that  it  is  more 
likely  to  be  avoided.  It  is  argued  that  when  war  means  annihila- 
tion to  both  combatants  war  will  cease,  and,  if  this  be  true,  the  end 
must  be  near,  for  no  one  can  look  over  a  modern  summary  of 
death-dealing  contrivances  without  feeling  that  well-equipped  op- 
posing armies  and  navies  would  leave  very  little  of  each  other 
after  a  serious  engagement. 

175 


176 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


With  guns  that  shoot  accurately  farther  than  men  can  see, 
dynamite  mines  on  land  and  under  the  water,  and  torpedoes  that 
may  be  discharged  from  out  of  the  watery  depths  by  a  submarine 
foe,  there  would  be  little  chance  of  escape  for  combatants  except 
through  arbitration  or  the  fact  of  the  victor  growing  weary  of 
carnage.  Certain  it  appears  that  the  great  nations  of  the  earth 
rely  on  their  navies  and  armies — I  say  navies  first  advisedly — to 
preserve  the  respect  of  their  neighbors  and  prevent  hostilities,  be- 
cause of  the  frightful  cost  of  conflict. 

Improved  explosives  constitute  the  most  dreadful  weapons 
of  modern  times.    The  gun-cotton  and  nitro-glycerine  of  a  decade 


A  Torpedo  in  its  Tube. 

or  two  ago  have  been  highly  developed,  and  we  have  to-day  such 
explosives  as  bellite,  made  of  ammonium  nitrate  and  nitro-benzene ; 
melinite,  of  picric  acid  and  gun-cotton;  cordite,  of  nitro-glycerine, 
gun-cotton,  and  petrolatum ;  lyddite,  very  similar  to  melinite ;  in- 
durite,  of  gun-cotton  and  indurated  nitro-benzene ;  maximite,  dun- 
nite,  and  a  number  of  others,  of  which  the  methods  of  manufacture 
are  largely  secret,  or  purposely  kept  out  of  print  in  works  of 
general  circulation,  in  order  that  evil-minded  persons  may  not 
manufacture  them  for  the  purpose  of  blowing  up  their  enemies. 

The  torpedo  and  the  submarine  mine,  filled  with  some  form  of 
nitro-glycerine  or  dynamite,  such  as  served  to  wreck  the  lamented 
Maine  in  Havana  harbor,  are  the  forms  in  which  these  explosives 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


177 


are  used  in  warfare.  Battle-ships  and  cruisers  are  now  commonly 
equipped  with  two  or  more  torpedo-tubes,  while  in  time  of  war 
important  harbors  are  invariably  mined,  so  that  any  intruding  war- 
vessels  can  be  sent  to  destruction  by  the  touch  of  an  electric  button 
at  the  proper  instant. 

The  ordinary  torpedo  in  naval  use  is  of  the  Whitehead  type 
shown  in  the  illustration.  In  form  it  is  like  a  great  cigar,  and 
measures  from  fourteen  to  eighteen  feet  in  length  and  fourteen 
to  eighteen  inches  in  thickness.  The  larger  size  weighs  a  little  over 
a  thousand  pounds,  and  carries  a  charge  of  a  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  pounds  of  wet  gun-cotton,  which  is  sufficient  to  blow  up  the 
best  armored  vessel  afloat  if  exploded  close  to  it.     It  is  intended 


A  Submarine  Torpedo-Boat. 
A,  Anchor  weights  ;  B,  ballast  tanks  ;  C,  conning-tower  ;  D,  diving  door;  d,  diving  compartment ; 
E,  storage  batteries  :  G,  gasolene  tank  ;  H,  hatches;  L,  line  of  spindle  hull;  O,  omniscope;  R,  hori- 
zontal rudder;  S,  sighting  hood  ;  T,  torpedo-tubes  ;  W,  wheels;  X,  exhaust  from  engines. 

to  be  discharged  or  fired  from  its  tube  at  a  distance  of  about 
2000  yards  from  the  object  of  attack.  The  steering  apparatus  at 
the  tail,  which  is  well  shown  in  the  illustration,  prevents  the  tor- 
pedo from  being  turned  aside  or  deflected  in  its  course,  while 
the  two  screw  propellers,  operated  by  a  compressed-air  mechanism 
within  the  torpedo,  do  the  driving.  The  explosive  charge  is  in  the 
head  of  the  torpedo,  and  is  set  off  by  a  pointed  rod  which  pro- 
trudes from  the  nose  and  is  driven  in  when  the  torpedo  strikes  its 
target. 

The  submarine  boat  has  been  one  of  the  favored  means  for 
delivering  the  torpedo  to  the  vitals  of  a  foe.  These  little  vessels, 
sailing  along  with  nothing  but  a  few  inches  of  a  conning-tower 
above  the  waves,  can  approach  a  battle-ship  in  daylight  within  a 


178 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


mile  or  two  before  going  entirely  below  the  surface,  and,  stealing 
upon  the  foe,  all  unaware  of  their  approach,  can  send  the  deadly 
missile  which  no  steel  or  armor  can  resist,  but  whose  explosion 
means  annihilation  of  everything  near  by. 

The  idea  of  sailing  beneath  the  waves,  out  of  the  sight  and 
knowledge  of  less  privileged  mortals,  is  especially  captivating,  and 
probably  no  one  who  has  read  Jules  Verne's  "  Twenty  Thousand 
Leagues  under  the  Sea"  has  failed  to  register  a  wish  that  such 


Holland  Submarine  Torpedo- Boat. 

voyages  might  be  possible.  While  the  fabled  Nautilus  was  ob- 
viously impracticable  in  several  ways,  yet  it  has  since  been  demon- 
strated that  such  submarine  travel  is  possible  on  a  small  scale,  and 
with  comparative  safety,  as  witness  the  tests  of  the  Holland  boat, 
the  Adder,  and  others  of  its  class,  and  of  the  French  Gymnote  and 
Gouber,  and  the  Spanish  Peral,  as  well  as  many  others.  The  first 
experimental  boats  were  very  faulty,  but  gradually  the  designers 
learned  how  to  overcome  the  chief  difficulties,  and  the  submarine 
boats  of  to-day  steer  readily  and  can  be  raised  and  lowered  with- 
out difficulty.  The  fresh-air  supply  is  satisfactory,  and  theoretically 
they  appear  to  be  a  great  addition  to  a  navy  for  torpedo  warfare. 
What  they  may  do  in  practice  time  alone  can  determine.     It  would 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


179 


appear  that  a  blockading  fleet  at  a  harbor  where  the  defenders  had 
a  submarine  boat  would  be  in  great  danger ;  in  fact,  the  blockade 
might  be  impracticable.  Certainly  the  blockading  battle-ships 
would  feel  obliged  to  be  always  on  the  move,  in  order  that  the 
death-dealing  submarine  might  not  steal  out  on  them  and  deliver 
its  resistless  torpedo.  Many  naval  men  have  no  faith  at  all  in  the 
submarine,  and  criticise  it  as  a  toy;  but  it  seems  to  the  writer 
that  the  most  that  can  safely  be  said  against  it  is  that  it  has  yet  to 
win  its  spurs,  if  one  may  apply  such  a  simile  to  a  water-craft. 

The  United  States  navy  has  eight  of  these  submarine  boats, 
of  which  the  Holland  is  the  best  known.  The  others,  which  are 
more  highly  developed,  being  later  constructions,  are  over  sixty-three 
feet  long,  and  have  a  displacement  of  120  tons.  On  the  surface  a 
gasolene  engine  of  160  horse-power  does  the  driving,  and  charges 
the  electric  batteries,  which  furnish  the  power  when  moving  under 
the  waves.  There  are  three  water-tight  compartments,  and  flasks 
stored  with  fresh  air  at  2000  pounds  pressure.  The  armament 
consists  of  a  torpedo-tube  capable  of  discharging  a  12-foot 
Whitehead  torpedo.  The  speed  of  these  submarines  when  sub- 
merged is  seven  knots,  and  one  has  remained  below  for  fifteen 
hours  without  accident  or  discomfort  to  the  occupants. 

As  an  improvement  on  the  submarine  boat,  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  a  subsurface  torpedo-boat  would  be  equally  deadly  in 
attacking  the  enemy  and  much  safer  for  the  crew.     Clarence  L. 


Burgess'  Submarine  and  Subsurface  Torpedo-Boat. 
C,  Conning-tower ;  E,  engine  room;  G,  gasolene  tank;  T,  torpedo  tube;  V,  ventilating  fan. 

Burgess  is  the  inventor  of  the  type  of  subsurface  boat  here  illus- 
trated, which  is  designed  to  sail  awash,  and  which  would  hardly 
be  discernible  from  the  deck  of  a  battle-ship  at  night,  even  with 
rapid  play  of  search-lights.  An  Important  feature  of  this  boat  is 
its  speed,  for  it  Is  claimed  that  It  can  be  driven  sixteen  knots  an 
hour,  while  the  submarine's  chief  fault  is  its  slowness.  The  Ameri- 
can Shipbuilder  says  of  this  craft : 


l8o  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

"  The  subsurface  torpedo-boat  consists  simply  of  a  cigar-shaped  steel  under- 
water hull  holding  the  machinery,  torpedoes,  torpedo-tube,  and  other  vitals  and 
the  crew  safe  from  gun-fire,  suspended  by  a  hollow  fin-like  structure,  from  a 
distinct  steel  surface  hull  filled  with  cellulose,  acting  as  a  mere  float  to  give  vision, 
ventilation,  buoyancy,  and  seaworthiness  like  an  ordinary  boat.  By  the  separation 
of  the  two  hulls,  not  only  are  the  lower  hull  and  vitals  placed  well  out  of  reach 
of  shells,  but  the  displacement  is  halved,  so  that  the  necessary  speed  can  be 
obtained,  and  the  upper  hull  made  low  and  almost  invisible  at  a  distance.  A 
heavily  armored  conning-tower  rises  from  the  lower  hull  through  the  hollow  fin 
slightly  above  the  surface  hull.  This  armored  conning-tower,  in  which  the 
navigator  stands  and  steers  the  boat,  is  proof  against  all  small  guns  and  is  too 
small  a  target,  in  motion,  for  large  guns  to  hit.  The  subsurface  torpedo-boat 
being  thus  barely  visible  and  almost  invulnerable  to  gun-fire,  and  having  a  tested 
speed  so  much  in  excess  of  the  ordinary  manoeuvring  speed  of  fighting  ships  in 
battle  or  on  blockade,  it  is  fairly  evident  that,  under  cover  of  darkness,  fog,  or 
confusion  of  battle,  and  even  in  daylight,  a  squadron  of  these  boats  could  gen- 
erally be  able  to  get  within  torpedo  range — 500  to  1000  yards — and  torpedo  an 
attacking  or  blockading  squadron,  and  get  away  again  without  being  put  out  of 
action." 

Ever  since  the  invention  of  gunpowder  a  contest  has  been 
going  forward  between  the  manufacturers  of  guns  and  the  makers 
of  armor,  the  one  to  secure  weapons  that  wiH  penetrate  all  de- 
fences and  the  other  to  present  an  armament  that  will  stop  all  pro- 
jectiles. Sometimes  the  gun  and  sometimes  the  armor-plate  has 
been  in  advance,  but  generally  it  is  the  gun,  and  the  most  modern 
armor-plate  only  undertakes  to  present  a  certain  amount  of  re- 
sistance to  the  impact  of  projectiles.  When  the  torpedo  entered 
the  field  with  its  charge  of  nitro-glycerine,  the  armor-plate  was  no 
longer  fit,  and  advanced  means  of  defence  had  to  be  devised  for 
keeping  the  torpedo  at  a  distance. 

While  there  have  been  built  some  enormous  guns,  capable  of 
throwing  about  a  ton  of  metal  to  a  distance  of  perhaps  twenty 
miles,  yet  the  development  of  guns  of  late  years  has  not  been  in  the 
direction  of  size;  in  fact,  there  has  been  a  tendency  to  use  smaller 
calibers,  and  the  12-inch  gun  is  now  regarded  by  many  as  prefer- 
able to  the  13-inch  or  larger  bores,  and  altogether  the  most  effi- 
cient large  gun  that  is  made  A  very  large  gun  when  fired  with 
the  heaviest  charges,  in  the  endeavor  to  reach  the  greatest  distance, 
receives  such  strains  and  shocks  that  even  the  best  of  them  would 
probably  not  bear  the  firing  of  more  than  a  few  hundred  rounds, 
and  the  improbability  of  hitting  anything  at  ranges  above  five  or 
ten  miles  has  checked  the  disposition  to  build  guns  of  enormous 
capacity.  Instead,  the  effort  now  is  to  produce  guns  of,  say,  6- 
or  8-inch  bore,  that  can  be  fired  with  great  accuracy  and  at  a 
rapid  rate.  The  development  in  these  guns  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  ten  years  ago  a  6-inch  gun  weighed  eleven  hundred 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


i8i 


to  twelve  hundred  pounds,  whereas  now  it  weighs  usually  eighteen 
hundred.  The  former  fired  its  shot  with  an  initial  velocity  of 
two  thousand  feet  per  second  with  the  brown  powder  then  in 
use,  while  the  modern  gun  with  its  smokeless  powder  and  heavier 
construction  will  develop  three  thousand  feet  per  second,  having 
greatly  increased  muzzle  energy.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that 
a  6-inch  gun  can  be  fired  eight  times  in  a  minute,  and,  discharged 
at  that  speed,  has  been  known  to  strike  a  15-foot  target  at  a  dis- 
tance of  a  mile  at  every  shot.  Of  course,  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions the  smoke  or  gases  of  smokeless  powder  would  prevent  the 
accuracy  of  shots  sent  off  with  such  rapidity;  still  the  record  is 
there,  to  show  the  possibilities  of  rapid  fire.     Large  guns  having 


An  Old-time  Fort  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida. 

projectiles  weighing  350  pounds  have  been  fired  as  fast  as  four 
times  a  minute ;  but,  of  course,  neither  of  these  speeds  can  be 
maintained. 

The  modern  theory  is  that  rapid  and  accurate  firing  is  of 
greater  importance  than  the  throwing  of  enormous  projectiles  to 
tremendous  distances.  Guns  for  use  in  forts  and  stationary  works 
are  naturally  heavier  than  those  used  on  naval  vessels,  because  of 
their  more  secure  foundations ;  but,  as  a  fort  is  only  serviceable  for 
defence,  as  of  a  harbor  to  some  large  city,  and  the  battle-ship  or 
cruiser  is  an  arm  that  must  go  out  to  attack  the  enemy,  it  is  the 
naval  gun  that  attracts  the  most  attention  and  consideration.  Those 
who  have  witnessed  firing  from  guns  of  forts  are  apt  to  think 


1 82 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


that  a  ship  may  be  in  great  danger  at  a  distance  of  four  or  five 
miles;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  even  shore  guns  are  uncertain 
at  that  distance,  and  when  a  gun  is  fired  from  a  ship's  deck,  subject 
as  it  is  to  the  influence  of  the  waves,  there  can  be  no  very  accurate 
firing  beyond  three  miles,  and  there  are  very  few  naval  officers 
who  would  expect  to  damage  the  enemy  much  until  within  a  two- 
mile  range.  When  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  at  a  distance  of  two 
miles  a  target  fifteen  feet  high,  as  viewed  by  a  man  sighting  a 
gun  from  a  rolling  ship,  would  commonly  pass  his  vision  in  one- 
tenth  of  a  second,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  must  have  a  very  keen 
appreciation  of  time  to  be  able  to  discharge  a  gun  within  that 
extremely  brief  interval. 

While  I  have  spoken  of  the  reduction  in  the  caliber  of  guns, 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  projectile  has  increased  in 
length,  and  that,  whereas  a  round  shot  of  an  old-fashioned  9-inch 
gun  weighed  ninety  pounds,  a  long  projectile  of  a  modern  6-inch 
rifle  weighs  one  hundred  pounds.  In  laying  out  the  guns  for  a 
war-ship  the  designer  has  to  consider  whether  one  hundred  tons 
of  metal  to  be  thrown  at  the  enemy  are  best  put  into  12-inch,  8-inch, 
6-inch,  or  smaller  guns.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  nearly  always 
divided  between  these,  some  proportion  or  other  being  figured  out 
as  the  best  for  each  particular  case.  The  small  guns  can  be  fired  so 
much  more  rapidly  than  the  large  ones  that  they  deliver  a  much 
greater  quantity  of  metal  in  the  same  time.  This  is  apparent  from 
the  following  figures,  compiled  by  Rear-Admiral  O'Neal,  chief  of 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Ordnance,  regarding  the  practical  rate 
of  fire  from  the  guns  of  the  battle-ship  Georgia : 


Gun. 

Muzzle  Energy 
of  Gun. 

Practical  Rate 

of    Fire  per 

Minute. 

Muzzle  Energy  in 
Five  Minutes. 

Four  12-inch. 
Eight  8-inch. 
Twelve  6-inch. 
Twelve  3-inch. 

46,246  foot -tons. 
13,602 
5,838        " 
709 

0.66 

1.2 

6.5 

610,447  foot-tons. 
652,896 
1,225,980          " 
276,510 

Total  energy  all  guns  in  five  minutes 


2,765,833 


It  will  be  noted  by  studying  the  figures  that  the  6-inch  guns 
make  much  the  best  showing,  which  accounts  for  their  popularity 
with  designers  of  war-ships.  The  capacity  of  this  size  of  gun 
has  grown  greatly  in  twenty  years.  It  has  increased  fifty  per  cent, 
in   length,   and  throws  a  projectile   of  nearly   double  the   former 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


183 


weight,  while  the  muzzle  velocity  has  also  gained  about  fifty  per 
cent.  Many  authorities,  however,  have  a  preference  for  the  7-inch 
gun,  now  little  used,  and  believe  that  it  is  destined  to  largely  super- 
sede the  6-inch.  The  following  table  affords  farther  opportunity 
for  comparison  between  guns  of  from  3-  to  12-inch  caliber: 


<L  £ 

Perfora- 

Perfora- 

S 3 

tion   at 

•T3 

tion  at 

s.^ 

Muzzle. 

> 

3000  yds. 

^ 

oS 

Krupp 

° 

Krupp 

Armor. 

Armor. 

h 

.2 

c 
0 
H 
s 

1 
U 

c 

CO'" 
c«  0  =^ 

0 
'o" 

"0 

0 
> 

V 

Projectiles. 

> 

bp 

Projectiles. 

s 

0 

01 

-t-t 

X    ,r.° 

^ 

■0 

a 

c 

■o 

0. 

(U 

.0 

be 

a. 
< 

M 

a. 

a 

a 

U 

1 

c 

11 

3 

3 

a. 

ni 

u 

D 

S 

a 
U 

u 

c 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Ft. -sees. 

Ft.-tons. 

3-inch 
4-inch 

0.87 
2.i6 

50 
50 

5 
15 

13 
32 

709 
1,870 

4.4 
6.4 

5-6 

2130 
2380 

2900 

32 

5-inch 

3-3 

50 

27 

60 

2900 

3,503 

8.4 

6.6 

2460 

4.6 

4.6 

6-inch 

8-37 

50 

46 

100 

2900 

5.838 

10.9 

7-3 

2525 

5-9 

5.2 

7-inch 

13-33 

45 

74 

165 

2900 

Q,646 

13-2 

10.5 

2580 

8-3 

6.5 

8-inch 

18. 

45 

115 

250 

2800 

33,602 

15- 

12. 1 

2530 

10.3 

7-9 

10-inch 

334 

40 

240 

500 

2800 

27,204 

20. 

17.1 

2585 

15- 

II-5 

12-inch 

52. 

40 

385 

850 

2800 

46,246 

25- 

21.7 

2620 

19-5 

16.2 

Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


A  Rapid-Fire  Gun,  with  Shield. 


A  comparison  of  the  larger  modern  guns  is  afforded  by  ex- 
periments made  at  Sandy  Hook,  in  January,  1903,  with  a  new 
16-inch  United  States  army  gun,  the  results  of  which  are  placed 
in  the  following  table  together  with  figures  obtained  in  a  test  of 
a  modern  12-inch  Krupp  gun: 


i84 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


_ 

, 

u 

c   . 

„ 

=  c 

••- 

w 

'0  m 

•0 

u 

—  T3 

>. 

—  0 

^'"'^ 

be 

Type  of  Gun. 

V 

u 
c 

tu9 
C 
V 

0 

Mil 

0^    . 

0  = 

3 

0 

"0 

T3 

N    01 

"n  0 

W  go 

N  2'S 

u 
o 

11 

0  - 

5 

3fc 

3,°:* 
S'^^ 

Nitro- 

United States  Army  . 

16 

49-7 

130 

2400 

640 

cellulose 
Smokeless 

23C6 

88,000 

677 

Krupp     

12 

50 

57.6 

*77i.6 

334 

Nitro- 
cellulose 
Smokeless 

*3330 

59,280 

1029 

*  Since  the  velocity  falls  off  much  more  rapidly  in  the  lighter  shell,  the  remaining  velocities 
will  be  proportionately  greater  in  the  2400-pound  projectile. 

This  great  i6-inch  gun  cost  $155,400,  of  which  $5400  was  the 
bill  for  transportation  from  Watervliet  to  Sandy  Hook.  Each 
time  it  is  fired  the  cost  is  $865. 


The  16-inch  Gun  at  Sandy  Hook. 

From  the  Sandy  Hook  test  it  was  calculated  that  the  maxi- 
mum range  of  the  16-inch  gun  was  twenty-one  miles,  this  with  an 
elevation  of  forty  degrees ;  also  that  the  energy  developed  was  suffi- 
cient to  drive  the  2400-pound  projectile  through  27^/2  inches  of  steel 
armor  at  a  distance  of  two  miles.  It  has  been  calculated  that  a 
Brown  segmental  gun  of  4^  inches  caliber,  with  a  long  55-pound 
projectile,  will  stand  a  powder-charge  that  will  give  a  muzzle 
velocity  of  4000  feet  per  second,  and,  if  this  is  correct,  it  should 
have  a  range  of  almost  twenty- four  miles ;  but  whether  these  enor- 
mous distances  could  be  reached  in  practice  is  doubtful.  Guns 
strained  to  the  limit  are  apt  to  burst  with  frightful  results,  and  aiming 
them  accurately  at  such  distances  and  with  the  required  elevation 
is  out  of  the  question. 

The  disappearing  gim,  for  use  in  forts  whose  location  it  is 
desired  to  hide  as  much  as  possible,  is  an  American  product.  The 
Buffington-Crozier  patent  is  the  type   in  most  favor.      Some  of 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION  185 

these  are  installed  at  Fort  Wadsworth,  covering  New  York  har- 
bor. This  gun  has  the  trunnions  mounted  on  a  pair  of  grasshopper- 
like legs  or  levers.  In  firing  position  these  legs  are  upright,  and 
when  the  gun  is  discharged,  they  bend  over  and  down,  compressing 
the  hydraulic  chambers,  thus  securing  the  recoil.  Incidentally  the 
gun  is  brought  to  a  lower  level,  below  the  parapet,  whence  it 
receives  the  name  of  disappearing  gun,  being  kept  out  of  sight 
when  not  in  actual  use. 


Diagram  showing  Mechanism  of  a  Disappearing  Gun. 

The  name  of  Krupp  must  ever  be  linked  closely  with  the 
growth  of  big  guns  and  of  armor-plate.  Alfred  Krupp  came 
most  conspicuously  before  the  world  in  1851,  when  he  succeeded 
in  making  a  forty-five-ton  block  of  steel^  this  being  more  than 
double  the  size  of  any  previous  large  steel  forging.  He  thus 
demonstrated  the  practicability  of  making  large  steel  guns,  and 
in  1855  had  improved  his  processes  so  that  he  was  able  to  produce 
a  one-hundred-ton  block  of  steel.  From  this  time  the  Krupp  con- 
cern took  first  place  among  the  manufacturers  of  great  gims,  which 
position  it  has  retained  ever  since,  the  works  at  Essen  being  the 
largest  in  the  world,  and  equipped  in  the  most  complete  manner. 
One  feature  which  assisted  their  development  was  the  establish- 
ing of  proving-grounds   for  tests.     At  these   grounds   shots  can 


1 86 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


be  fired  to  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles  or  more  without  interfering 
with  the  outside  world. 

The  cast-iron  gun  of  the  Civil  War  did  not  admit  of  using  a 
heavy  charge  of  powder,  and  was  thought  to  do  well  when  it 
started  a  shot  on  its  way  at  a  velocity  of  1500  feet  a  second.  This 
gun  was  improved  by  a  hoop  of  iron  shrunk  over  the  breech,  and, 
this  method  proving  successful,  the  practice  of  placing  one  hoop 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Breech  Mechanism  of  a  Large  Gun. 


over  another  resulted  in  the  built-up  gun,  which  has  a  marked 
increase  in  strength  over  the  cast  gun  and  has  been  the  standard 
gun  for  many  years,  the  best  of  them  showing  a  muzzle  velocity 
of  about  3000  feet  per  second. 

As  an  improvement  on  the  hoop,  Mr.  Longridge,  of  England, 
suggested'  the  wire-wound  gun  to  the  Armstrongs.  This  gun  con- 
sisted of  a  steel  tube  wound  about  with  a  ribbon  or  thin  band  of 
steel  plate,  employing  great  tension  during  the  winding,  so  that 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


187 


the  tube  was  enormously  strengthened.  The  reason  why  the  wire 
or  ribbon  of  steel  wrapped  around  the  gun  in  this  fashion  made 
it  stronger  than  the  same  amount  of  metal  in  hoops  is,  that  the 
greatest  strength  is  obtained  in  steel  when  it  is  worked  down  to 
small  sizes  by  compression,  consequently  these  ribbons  of  steel 
possess  a  much  greater  tensile  strength  than  can  be  secured  in 
large  hoops.  Farther,  the  tension  of  the  wire  can  be  regulated  so 
that  compression  strains  of  known  quantity  can  be  secured  at 
various  distances  from  the  bore.  Where  the  tension  is  properly 
applied,  the  strain  of  a  bursting  charge  is  equally  divided  between 
the  layers  of  wire,  instead  of  being  greatest  near  the  bore. 


r'. ~T" 

m 

**■-•■■ 

# 

■  y^^m 

fciiiirr-~ 

-^^m. 

7    V/^^ 

mhi^ 

i^^^ 

■ 

1 

<.»;■       ' 

% 

1 

^ 

Courtesy  Scientific  American. 

Section  of  a  Brown  Segmental  Gun. 

The  Brown  segmental  wire-tube  gun  has  passed  tests  of  a 
remarkable  character.  It  is  formed  first  of  an  inner  lining  tube, 
then  comes  a  segmental  core,  then  the  wire,  and,  lastly,  the  outer 
jacket.  The  segmental  tube  consists  of  a  series  of  thin  plates  of 
steel  tapered  towards  the  muzzle  and  clamped  together  so  as  to 
grip  the  tube.  These  plates  are  cold-rolled  to  their  finished  size. 
This  rolling  produces  the  highest  degree  of  strength  in  the  metal, 
and  is  comparatively  inexpensive. 

The  smaller  naval  guns,  as  the  3-pounders  and  i -pounders, 
are  now  commonly  automatic  or  semi-automatic  in  their  operation, 


l88  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

and  are  intended  for  close  fighting,  such  as  may  occur  in  the 
repulse  of  torpedo-boats  or  in  making  a  landing.  A  3-inch  gun, 
which  mounted  on  a  carriage  weighs  1200  to  1500  pounds,  can 
be  handled  readily  by  man  power,  and  is  commonly  preferred 
for  a  landing  gun.  Among  the  improvements  made  of  late  years 
in  large  guns  is  the  general  adoption  of  telescopic  sights  for  giving 
greater  accuracy  of  aim.  The  discharging  of  guns  by  electricity 
has  also  become  quite  common,  as  permitting  the  quickest  action. 
Automatic  ejectors  for  the  primers  are  in  general  use,  and  there 
are  several  improvements  in  fuses.  In  guns  of  modern  construc- 
tion, there  is  a  sleeve  which  carries  the  trunnions  and  in  which 
the  gun  recoils.  Upon  this  sleeve  are  mounted  the  sights,  and 
the  platform  for  the  man  who  aims  and  fires  the  gun  is  also  on  the 
sleeve.  Thus  the  man  moves  with  the  recoil,  and  is  not  thrown 
out  by  it,  but  is  ready  promptly  for  the  next  shot. 

The  breech  mechanism,  whose  quick  operation  assists  so  much 
in  rapid  fire,  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration,  page  186. 
All  modern  guns  of  3-inch  and  upwards  are  fitted  with  the  Welin 
patent  breech-plug,  which  is  threaded  in  steps.  The  breech  can 
be  opened,  closed,  and  tightened  in  a  very  short  space  of  time, 
and  it  is  now  the  loading  of  the  projectile  and  the  aiming  of  the 
gun  that  consume  most  of  the  time,  and  thus  determine  the  rate 
of  fire,  although  the  heating  of  the  gun  also  serves  to  check  the 
speed. 

In  the  case  of  12-inch  and  13-inch  guns  the  recoil  is  taken 
up  by  hydraulic  cylinders,  of  which  four  are  commonly  employed. 
The  12-inch  guns  of  the  Maine  recoil  thirty-three  inches  and  have 
metal  springs  as  well  as  hydraulic  cylinders,  and  the  former  return 
the  gun  to  position  after  the  recoil. 

Improvements  in  steel-making  are  responsible  for  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  improvement  in  modern  guns,  resulting  in  gains 
of  fifty  per  cent,  or  more  in  strength  for  the  same  weight,  during 
a  dozen  years.  Gun-steel  forgings  are  now  made  with  as  great 
as  70,000  pounds  elastic  strength,  and  about  130,000  pounds  ulti- 
mate or  breaking  strength. 

The  arrangement  or  disposition  of  large  guns  on  battle-ships 
and  cruisers  may  be  gathered  by  those  interested  from  the  chapter 
entitled  "  The  Race  for  Supremacy  on  the  Seas,"  in  which  a  num- 
ber of  naval  vessels  are  described. 

The  use  of  smokeless  powder  has  been  perhaps  the  most 
notable  development  of  gunnery  of  recent  years.  The  absence  of 
a  cloud  of  vapor  is  not  the  only  merit  of  this  modern  powder.     In 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


189 


the  old  powders  about  forty  per  cent,  of  the  charge  remained 
in  soHd  form,  and  constituted  a  useless  and  cumbering  addition  to 
the  charge,  interfering  with  the  development  of  the  most  energy, 
as  well  as  forming  the  obstructing  cloud  of  smoke.  The  new 
powder  is  commonly  pure  nitro-cellulose,  more  familiarly  known 
as  gun-cotton,  and  when  it  explodes  almost  the  entire  amount  is 
turned  into  gas,  which  assists  the  projectile  in  its  course.  It  has 
the  disadvantage  that  the  nitro-cellulose  has  a  tendency  to  score 


Old-time  \\'oodt;a  Guaboat  Vciinoiil,  Lulled  Slalub  i\av\  \'ard,  Brooklyn. 

or  gutter  the  gun  in  the  bore ;  the  higher  the  pressure  under 
which  the  gun  is  fired  the  greater  is  the  destructive  power  of  the 
gas  on  the  interior  steel.  In  manufacture  the  nitro-cellulose  is 
made  up  into  a  gluey  compound  and  forced  through  a  series  of 
small  holes  in  a  plate,  thus  taking  the  form  of  little  sticks  that  may 
be  likened  in  appearance  to  macaroni ;  or  it  may  be  made  into 
pellets  or  grains. 

Armor-plate  for  protecting  battle-ships  and  cruisers  has  been 
so  improved  in  the  last  generation  that  a  foot  of  the  best  of  to-day 
will  withstand  more  than  two  feet  of  steel  of,  say,  twenty-five  years 
ago.  We  used  to  make  steel  plates  by  hammering  under  the  steam- 
hammer  ;  then  Krupp  had  a  process  of  rolling  them  under  enormous 
pressures ;  now  they  are  subjected  while  hot  to  hydraulic  forging, 
in  which  steady  pressure  of  great  amount  affects  the  whole  mass 
of  the  plate,  rendering  it  more  homogeneous,  and  consequently 
stronger  throughout  and  freer  from  possible  flaws.  After  forging 
in  this  way  the  plates  are  sawed  or  planed  to  size  and  then  Har- 
veyized  by  cementation,  hardening,  and  tempering.  This  surface- 
hardening  adds  about  twenty-five  per  cent,  to  the  resistance  of  the 
plate.     The  Krupp  process,  which  may  be  called  an  improvement 


I90  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

on  the  Harvey,  is  responsible  for  another  gain  of  about  ten  per  cent, 
in  resistance. 


^w^^l^T7^i^^^IIJ?!K?^S?^^S^K^^^^^5F^tvv^^^^"'^''^^i3«^^ 


8S    'Ji'  f 


.^-<vv  ^'i^r^^^ig^.^-^^''^ 


-«**wf\. 


8       I      .       '      •  ;.WV. 


In  either  of  these  processes  nickel  is  introduced  in  the  steel  in 
the  furnace,  this  composition  being  stronger  than  pure  steel.     In 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION  191 

the  Krupp  process  the  face-hardening  is  carried  much  deeper  into  the 
plate,  owing-  largely  to  the  use  of  a  gas  furnace.  While  it  might 
be  inferred  that  this  hardening  of  the  plate  would  tend  to  induce 
cracking  by  increasing  the  brittleness,  this  is  obviated  by  the  extreme 
toughness  of  the  unhardened  backing  of  the  plate.  A  1 2-inch  Krupp- 
ized  plate  will  withstand  the  impact  of  a  number  of  12-inch  shells 
at  velocities  of  1700  feet  per  second  or  more,  the  penetration  of 
such  shells,  delivered  at  right  angles,  being  usually  from  four  to 
six  inches,  the  shells  being  smashed  on  the  plate.  Torpedo  shells, 
however,  having  a  striking  energy  of  over  50,000  foot-tons,  and 
weighing  1800  pounds,  will  crack  such  a  plate,  a  few  shots  demol- 
ishing it. 

Machine-guns,  firing  billets  from  a  series  of  barrels,  have 
reached  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  During  the  Civil  War  we  had 
the  Catling,  in  which  the  cartridges  were  automatically  fed  by  a 
crank  mechanism.  In  a  modernized  form  it  is  mounted  like  a 
small  cannon,  and  has  ten  barrels,  which  are  loaded  and  discharged 
in  rapid  rotation,  several  hundred  shots  a  minute  being  fired. 
Hotchkiss,  Nordenfelt,  Maxim,  and  Benet  have  made  important 
improvements  in  this  type  of  weapon,  utilizing  the  force  of  the 
exploding  powder  to  operate  the  discharging  of  the  shells  and 
feed  the  cartridges  to  place,  so  that  once  started  the  gun  is  auto- 
matic in  operation  as  long  as  cartridges  are  in  the  supply-belt.  These 
guns  have  been  constructed  to  fire  more  than  a  thousand  bullets  a 
minute,  but  the  number  exceeds  utility,  and  they  are  now  usually 
constructed  to  discharge  250  to  400  bullets  in  that  time. 

The  common  form  of  small  arm  is  a  magazine  rifle,  of  which 
the  Krag-Jorgensen  is  used  largely  by  the  United  States  infantry. 
The  Mauser  and  Lee-Metford  are  other  well-known  makes.  In 
the  most  modern  of  these  a  small  stock  of  cartridges  is  stored  above 
the  trigger  mechanism,  or  sometimes  in  the  stock,  and  automatically 
fed  into  the  breech  of  the  barrel,  being  set  off  by  a  firing-pin.  All 
that  is  necessary  for  their  operation  when  supplied  with  cartridges 
is  the  pulling  of  the  trigger  until  all  the  bullets  are  delivered.  The 
modern  bullet,  like  the  projectile  of  great  guns,  is  long  and  cylin- 
drical, and,  though  of  small  caliber,  when  used  with  smokeless 
powder,  has  great  penetrating  power. 

The  new  Springfield  rifle,  recently  adopted  by  the  United  States 
army,  is  the  most  formidable  yet  introduced.  Its  range  is  five  miles, 
the  initial  velocity  of  the  bullet  being  2300  feet  per  second,  enough 
to  drive  it  through  four  and  a  half  feet  of  white  pine.  It  is  very  light 
and  small,  being  only  forty-three  inches  long,  so  that  a  cavalryman 


192 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


can  use  it.     The  magazine  holds  five  cartridges,  and  the  mechanism 
is  well  shown  in  the  illustration. 


SECTION  D-0 


Springfield  Rifle  Mechanism. 

A  most  interesting  device  for  enabling  a  sharp-shooter  to  fire 
from  behind  a  breastwork  has  been  invented  by  William  Youlton, 
an  Englishman,  who  drew  his  inspiration  after  the  battle  of  Colenso 
in  the  Boer  war.  The  instrument  is  called  the  hyposcope,  and  is 
designed  to  be  attached  to  a  rifle,  and  enable  the  user  to  take  aim 
while  his  head  is  a  foot  below  the  sights  of  the  rifle,  and  consequently 
may  be  safely  protected  behind  a  rampart.     The  device  contains, 


Courtesy  The  American  Inventor. 


A  Rifle  fitted  with  a  Hyposcope. 


of  course,  a  system  of  reflectors  somewhat  similar  to  the  looking- 
glasses  used  by  trick  shooters  on  the  stage.  A  number  of  these 
instruments  were  made  and  used  during  the  latter  part  of  the  Boer 
war,  and  an  illustration  of  one  is  shown  herewith.  It  will  be  noted 
that  the  hyposcope  is  secured  to  the  rifle  near  the  breech.  The 
cross-piece  lying  over  the  top  of  the  rifle  bears  its  first  mirror  in 
line  with  the  sights  and  reflects  the  light  to  the  second  mirror  at 
the  elbow  of  the  instrument,  and  this  mirror  directs  the  rays  down- 
ward to  the  point  where  they  are  caught  by  another  mirror  opposite 


THE    TOOLS    OF    DESTRUCTION 


193 


the  eye-piece.  When  the  mirrors  are  properly  set,  the  marksman  at 
the  eye-piece  sees  the  reflection  of  the  two  sights,  and  when  he  gets 
them  in  Hne  with  the  object  can  fire  the  rifle  as  accurately  as  if  his 
eye  were  at  the  usual  place  back  of  the  rear  sight.  The  instrument 
is  made  adjustable  as  to  the  length  of  the  upright  piece,  which  is 
telescopic.  There  are  devices  to  allow  for  windage,  the  same  as  for 
first-class  rifles  fired  in  the  ordinary  way.  The  mirrors  are  small 
affairs,  so  made  that  when  one  is  broken  it  is  easily  renewed. 

It  would  appear  as  if  the  use  of  the  hyposcope  might  very 
largely  change  the  nature  of  future  warfare.  A  garrison  of  men 
well  intrenched  could  protect  themselves  and  hold  a  place  until  they 
were  starved  out.  A  conspicuous  advantage  would  be  increased 
accuracy  of  aim.  Without  a  hyposcope  a  soldier  who  fires  over  a 
breastwork  is  almost  sure  to  take  hurried  aim,  because  if  he  does  not 
retire  quickly  he  is  as  likely  to  be  shot  himself  as  to  shoot  some  one 
on  the  other  side.  With  the  hyposcope  he  can  take  a  rest  on  the 
top  of  the  rampart  and  aim  as  deliberately  as  he  pleases,  the  proba- 
ble result  being  that  any  but  the  briefest  exposure  on  the  part  of  an 
enemy  would  result  in  the  majority  of  cases  in  his  being  shot. 


The  Nevy  Magazine  Pistol. 

The  deadliest  pistol  in  the  world  has  i:ecently  been  placed  on 
the  American  market,  and  its  very  simple  mechanism  will  be  easily 
understood  from  the  accompanying  print.  The  cartridges  are  stored 
in  the  handle,  and  can  be  set  off  as  fast  as  the  trigger  can  be  pulled. 
The  extreme  simplicity  of  this  small  arm,  which  is  only  seven  inches 
long  and  weighs  but  twenty-three  ounces,  will  probably  bring  it 
into  extensive  use,  though,  if  such  death-dealing  tools  are  to  become 
common,  legislation  will  be  required  to  prevent  their  being  generally 
carried  by  those  foolish  people  who  imagine  that  they  are  never 
safe  without  "  guns"  in  their  pockets. 

13 


SOME  GREAT  CANALS  AND  TUNNELS 

The  canal  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  engineering  enterprises.  After 
men  learned  how  to  navigate  rivers  and  proved  that  transportation 
by  water  was  much  easier  than  by  land,  they  began  to  construct 
artificial  water-ways  in  order  to  make  convenient  connections.  Tra- 
dition informs  us  that  a  canal  was  built  at  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  in 
the  time  of  Sesostris,  thirty-five  centuries  ago.  Notwithstanding 
the  development  of  railways,  the  canal  seems  to  hold  its  own,  and 


High  Mine  Canal,  Platte  Canon. 

old  canals  are  kept  up,  while  new  ones  are  contemplated  all  over 
the  world.  When  once  built,  they  afiford  cheap  transportation  for 
freight,  but  their  construction  is  very  costly.  While  many  canals 
have  gone  into  disuse,  because  built  in  sections  where  railroads  can 
better  serve  the  purpose,  yet  there  is  great  activity  in  their  con- 
struction, and  hardly  a  civilized  nation  exists  that  has  not  in  hand 
or  in  prospective  the  building  of  some  great  canal.  All  America 
wants  Panama  cut,  New  York  State  wants  to  spend  $100,000,000 
194 


SOME  GREAT  CANALS  AND  TUNNELS 


195 


in  improving  her  canals,  England  wants  several  large  canals,  the 
French  are  always  discussing  one  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the 
North  Sea,  and  Italy  and  Austria  have  canal  enterprises  in  con- 
sideration. 

The  tunnel  is  a  first  cousin  of  the  canal ;  both  involve  delving 
into  the  ground,  breaking  up  the  rock,  and  excavating  vast  quantities 
of  earth.  The  workmen  employed  in  each  case  are  similar, — civil 
engineers  to  lay  out  and  plan  the  work  accurately,  experienced  me- 
chanics to  direct  the  work,  and  gangs  of  laborers  to  do  the  heavy 
tugging,  that  requires  much  strength  and  little  skill.  Both  are  very 
costly  undertakings,  and  run  into  the  millions  for  short  distances, 
though  the  costs  have  been  very  much  reduced  within  the  last 
twenty  years  by  improved  machinery. 


Irrigation  Canal,  Stockdale,  California. 

The  Suez  canal  is  almost  invariably  referred  to  as  the  greatest 
canal  in  the  world,  yet  the  number  of  vessels,  or  technically  the 
"  tonnage,"  passing  through  it  annually  is  not  equal  to  the  number 
that  pass  through  the  canals  connecting  the  Great  Lakes  of  North 
America.  The  former  is  the  longest  of  ship  canals,  being  ninety 
miles  from  end  to  end,  of  which  about  two-thirds  is  through  shal- 
low lakes.  In  1895  the  Suez  canal  was  enlarged,  giving  it  a  depth 
of  thirty-one  feet,  and  a  width  at  the  bottom  of  108  feet,  and  at  the 
surface  of  420  feet.  With  these  improvements  the  cost  of  the  canal 
is  a  little  over  $100,000,000.  The  construction  of  the  Suez  canal 
'  has  led  to  the  rapid  development  of  steamers  for  the  Eastern  trade, 
has  brought  about  the  disuse  of  sailing-vessels  in  that  trade,  and 
has  vastly  increased  direct  trade  between  the  East  and  Europe. 


196 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  ship  canals  of  the  Great  Lakes  are  several  in  number,  be- 
ginning with  St.  Mary's,  or  Sault  Ste.  Marie  canal,  which  though 
short  is  very  important;  then  the  Welland,  which  is  the  longest  of 
the  series,  followed  by  the  Galops  and  five  smaller  canals ;  the  whole 
forming  a  continuous  water  connection  from  the  head  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Taking  the  record  of  the 
tonnage  passing  through  St.  Mary's  canal,  I  find  that  in  1889  it 
equalled  that  of  the  Suez  canal,  being  about  7,000,000  tons;  in  1895 
the  tonnage  at  St.  Mary's  was  15,000,000,  as  against  8,500,000  for 
the  Suez;  and  in  1901  the  figures  at  St.  Mary's  were  28,403,065 
tons.    The  value  of  the  freight  passing  through  St.  Mary's  is  not  as 


.k  ?"* .„_ 


Locks  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal. 


great,  however,  as  that  passing  through  the  Suez,  the  latter  being 
perhaps  twenty  per  cent,  in  advance  in  1900.  The  St.  Mary's  canal, 
which  connects  Lake  Superior  with  Lake  Huron,  was  begun  by  the 
State  of  Michigan  in  1853,  being  dug  out  to  the  length  of  a  little 
more  than  a  mile  and  to  the  depth  of  twelve  feet  at  a  cost  of 
$1,000,000.  The  United  States  Government  in  1870  began  to  en- 
large the  canal,  and  by  1881  its  depth  was  increased  to  sixteen  feet 
and  the  width  and  length  correspondingly  added  to.  In  1887  fur- 
ther improvements  were  undertaken  by  the  United  States,  which 
were  continued  from  time  to  time  until  in  1896  the  depth  was  in- 
creased to  twenty-five  feet  to  meet  the  continual  demands  of  in- 
creased traffic. 


SOME  GREAT  CANALS  AND  TUNNELS 


197 


The  Welland  canal  connects  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Erie  on 
the  Canadian  side  of  the  river.  It  was  constructed  in  1833  and 
enlarged  in  1871  and  again  in  1900.  The  length  of  the  canal  is 
twenty-seven  miles,  the  number  of  locks  twenty-five,  the  total  rise 
of  lockage  327  feet,  and  the  total  cost  about  $25,000,000.  The 
annual  collection  of  tolls  on  freight,  passengers,  and  vessels  aver- 
ages about  $225,000,  and  the  canal  is  open  on  an  average  about 
240  days  in  a  year. 


Interior  of  Power-House,  Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal. 


The  next  most  important  ship  canal  of  the  world  is  probably 
the  Manchester  canal,  opened  in  1894.  This  is  thirty-five  and  one- 
half  miles  long  and  has  a  width  of  120  feet  at  the  bottom  and  an 
average  depth  of  twenty-six  feet.  It  cost  $75,000,000,  and  the  yearly 
expenditures  are  nearly  $2,500,000,  which  are  more  than  paid  by 
the  tolls. 

The  most  important  canal  of  Germany  is  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
canal,  completed  in  1895,  having  a  length  of  sixty-one  miles  and 
terminating  in  the  harbor  of  Kiel.  It  is  twenty-nine  and  one-half 
feet  deep  and  seventy-two  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  cost  $40,000,000, 
and  affords  passage  for  about  25,000  vessels  annually.  Other  im- 
portant ship  canals  are  the  Cronstadt  and  St.  Petersburg  canal,  com- 
pleted in  1890  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,000;  the  Corinth  canal,  com- 
pleted in  1893  at  a  cost  of  $5,000,000;  and  the  Elbe  and  Trave 
canal,  connecting  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic,  opened  in  1900,  and 
costing  nearly  $6,000,000. 


198 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 


The  Chicago  sanitary  and  ship  canal  connects  Lake  Michigan 
and  the  Ihinois  River  at  Chicago,  and  is  thirty-four  miles  long. 
This  canal  is  peculiar  from  the  fact  that  it  was  cut  principally  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  proper  drainage  facilities  to  the  Western 
metropolis  by  turning  the  water  that  formerly  flowed  into  Lake 
Michigan  into  the  Illinois  River  at  Lockport.  The  work  was  com- 
pleted in  1900,  at  the  enormous  cost  of  $34,000,000,  of  which  about 
$3,000,000  was  paid  for  rights  of  way  and  $4,000,000  for  building 
bridges  over  the  canal. 

The  United  States  has  thirty-nine  canals  worthy  of  the  name; 
nine  of  these  are  over  one  hundred  miles  in  length :   the  Erie  is  387 


Copyright,  1902,  by  Detroit  Photographic  Company. 

A  Modern  Canal  Lock. 

miles,  Ohio  317,  Miami  and  Erie  274,  Pennsylvania  193,  Chesa- 
peake and  Ohio  184,  Lehigh  108,  Schuylkill  108,  Morris  103,  and 
Illinois  and  Michigan  102. 

A  chapter  on  canals  would  hardly  be  complete  without  some 
discussion  of  the  proposed  canal  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  The 
same  arguments  that  caused  the  building  of  the  Suez  canal  apply 
with  equal  force  to  a  canal  joining  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  across 
the  narrow  strip  of  land  connecting  North  and  South  America. 
It  is  a  fact  that  the  building  of  this  canal  has  been  discussed  for 
nearly  400  years,  and  that  while  it  is  more  needed  now  than  it 
was  at  any  earlier  period,  it  is  yet  unbuilt,  although  the  amount 
of  energy  expended  in  discussing  the  problems  and  the  relative 
advantages  of  the  Panama  vs.  the  Nicaragua  route,  if  properly  di- 
rected, would  have  been  sufficient  to  complete  the  canal  long  ago. 
That  President  Roosevelt  was  right  in  recognizing  the  new  state  of 
Panama,  and  arranging  for  a  canal  there  under  United  States  con- 


SOME    GREAT    CANALS    AND    TUNNELS 


199 


trol,  is  now  generally  conceded.  Summed  up  briefly,  the  geo- 
graphical conditions  are  these :  the  Panama  route  is  forty-nine  miles 
long,  as  against  i86>4  miles  for  the  Nicaragua.  The  shorter  route 
would  save  vessels  passing  through  about  twenty  hours  of  travel. 
The  Panama  route  alone  is  feasible  for  a  sea-level  canal,  though 
both  are  practical  for  a  canal  with  locks,  which  latter  is  the  plan 
generally  favored  regardless  of  the  route.  Though  the  Panama 
route  is  much  shorter,  the  land  to  be  cut  through  is  of  greater 
height,  while  the  Nicaragua  route  is  aided  by  the  use  of  Lake 
Nicaragua  and  the  San  Juan  River. 

The  American  Commission  appointed  in  1899  to  investigate 
the  subject  wrote  to  Congress  their  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the 
Nicaragua  route  as  $189,000,000,  and  by  the  Paaama  route  as 
$144,000,000;  also  that  the  cost  for  maintenance  and  operation 
would  be  more  than  one-half  greater  for  the  Nicaragua  route. 
These  figures  aided  in  directing  public  sentiments  in  favor  of  the 
Panama  route,  and  before  many  years  its  existence  will  be  a  mat- 
ter of  history. 

In  building  a  canal  the  engineers  must  first  lay  out  the  route, 
and  if  it  be  through  high  ground,  where  locks  are  necessary,  they 
have  to  arrange  the  upper  levels  so  that  they  may  be  fed  with  water 
from  near-by  streams  or  lakes,  that  are  certain  to  give  a  sufficient 
supply  to  keep  the  canal  always  full.  When  the  work  of  the  engi- 
neers is  completed  on  paper,  the  actual  work  of  digging  may  begin. 
The  modern  method  of  construction  consists  in  placing  movable 
steel  towers  on  either  side  of  the  excavation  and  running  wire 
cables  across.  From  these  cables  are  suspended  huge  buckets,  into 
which  the  laborers  dump  the  loose  earth  or  broken  rock  as  fast  as 
it  is  in  readiness  to  be  moved.  The  rock  is  all  broken  by  blasting, 
the  rock-drill  being  used  to  perforate  the  stone,  and  charges  of 
dynamite  inserted  to  break  it  up  into  sizes  that  can  be  conveniently 
handled. 

On  the  Chicago  drainage  canal  one  of  these  cableways  has  been 
known  to  remove  over  11,000  cubic  yards  of  rock  in  less  than  200 
hours.  The  steel  towers  which  support  the  cableways  were  set  on 
temporary  railway  tracks  that  were  constructed  on  either  side  of 
the  canal,  so  that  they  could  be  pushed  along  as  the  work  pro- 
gressed. In  the  sections  of  work  where  the  excavation  was  all  rock, 
the  plan  of  operation  was  to  use  a  channelling  machine  to  cut  the 
sides  of  the  canal,  and  then  utilize  the  rock-drills  to  bore  a  row 
of  holes  across  the  space  to  be  cut  out.  When  a  row  of  holes  was 
completed  to  a  depth  of  about  twelve  feet,  dynamite  was  sunk  into 


SOME    GREAT    CANALS    AND    TUNNELS 


201 


the  holes  and  the  row  fired  off  all  together.  The  broken  rock  thus 
obtained  was  loaded  by  laborers  into  skips,  as  the  receptacles  are 
termed  that  are  suspended  from  the  cableway.  When  a  skip  was 
full,  it  was  drawn  away  by  a  wire  rope  wrapped  around  a  drum 
at  the  tower,  and  driven  by  an  engine,  a  method  permitting-  the 
contents  of  the  skip  to  be  carried  off  and  dumped  on  either  side 
of  the  canal.  In  the  case  of  very  large  rocks,  a  chain  was  simply 
passed  around  them  and  they  were  hooked  on  to  the  travelling 


Courtesy  IngersoU-Sergeant  Company. 

A  Rock-Drill. 

carriage.  As  used  on  the  Chicago  drainage  canal,  the  steel  towers 
were  generally  700  feet  apart,  the  head  tower  being  ninety-three 
feet  high  and  the  tail  tower  seventy-three  feet.  The  reason  why 
the  towers  were  set  so  far  apart  was  to  afford  a  large  dumping 
ground  for  the  material  taken  out  of  the  canal.  The  Lidgerwood 
cableway  is  here  pictured,  as  used  on  section  eight  of  the  Chicago 


202  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

canal.  As  the  average  depth  of  the  cut  through  the  rock  was  from 
thirty-three  to  thirty-six  feet,  the  machines  employed  for  channelling 
were  designed  to  cut  down  twelve  feet,  the  same  distance  that  the 
rock-drills  operated,  and  in  this  way  the  material  was  removed  in 
sections  or  lifts  of  twelve  feet  at  a  time.  It  was  customary  to  use 
one  cableway  for  the  first  lift,  and  after  it  had  progressed  a  little 
distance  a  second  cableway  operated  on  the  second  lift,  and  later  a 
third  was  started  on  the  lower  lift. 

Where  loose  soil  was  encountered,  the  steam-shovel  was  em- 
ployed, and,  in  the  sections  of  the  canal  which  ran  through  earth, 
inclined  and  bridge-conveyors  were  employed  for  carrying  away 
the  dirt.  The  total  excavation  on  this  canal  was  12,200,000  cubic 
yards  of  rock  and  37,500,000  cubic  yards  of  earth. 

The  construction  of  tunnels  comes  naturally  in  connection  with 
canals,  because  both  involve  such  huge  digging  operations,  with 
blasting  and  removal  of  material.  In  the  tunnel,  however,  the 
engineer  has  to  consider  methods  of  ventilation  and  means  of  roof 
support,  and  he  has  much  reduced  convenience  for  disposing  of  the 
earth  and  rock  removed,  all  of  which  must  be  sent  back  through 
the  cut  or  drive  as  it  is  completed.  The  tunnel  is  usually  a  short 
cut  through  some  mountain,  just  as  the  canal  is  often  a  short  cut 
between  two  natural  water-ways. 

The  famous  tunnels  of  the  world  are  the  Mont  Cenis,  cut- 
ting through  the  Alps  from  France  to  Italy,  and  opened  in  1871, 
at  a  cost  of  $15,000,000;  the  St.  Gothard,  opened  in  1881,  the 
longest  of  all,  nine  and  a  half  miles,  at  Uri,  Switzerland,  afford- 
ing a  railway  connection  between  that  state  and  Italy,  and  costing 
over  $11,000,000;  the  Arlberg,  opened  in  1884,  ^i^d  costing  over 
$7,000,000;  and  the  Hoosac,  on  the  Boston  and  Albany  line, 
completed  in  1875,  at  a  cost  of  about  $16,000,000.  To  these 
must  now  be  added  the  Simplon  tunnel,  cutting  the  Alps  between 
Switzerland  and  Italy,  begun  in  1898,  and  to  be  finished  in  1904. 
The  contract  time  allowed  for  the  latter  was  five  and  a  half  years, 
which  is  pretty  short,  when  it  is  considered  that  the  St.  Gothard 
required  seven  and  a  half  years  and  the  Mont  Cenis  thirteen.  But 
methods  of  tunnel-building  have  improved,  which  made  the  task 
possible  in  the  shorter  period,  and  also  reduced  the  cost  about  one- 
half. 

The  Simplon  tunnel  will  lessen  the  distance  of  travel  between 
Paris  and  Milan  by  nearly  a  hundred  miles.  It  will  withdraw 
travel  from  both  the  St.  Gothard  and  Mont  Cenis  tunnels,  but  no 
doubt  all  of  them  will  continue  to  be  profitable,  as  the  very  exist- 


SOME  GREAT  CANALS  AND  TUNNELS 


20  ■ 


ence  of  tunnels  tends  to  increase  traffic.  The  Simplon  tunnel  is 
unique  in  that,  instead  of  being  a  single  two-track  tunnel,  it  is 
composed   of  two   separated   single-track   tunnels,    communicating 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


A  View  in  the  Simplon  Tunnel. 


at  intervals  for  ventilation.  During  the  work  upon  one  side  of 
the  tunnel  the  other  side  was  used  as  a  ventilating  tube,  and  the  plan 
proved  very  satisfactory.  When  it  is  remembered  that  over  thirty 
thousand   pounds  of   dynamite  are   exploded   in   this   tunnel   each 


204 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


month,  in  making  the  blasts,  the  necessity  for  superior  means  of 
ventilation  during-  building  is  apparent. 

As  with  all  large  tunnels,  the  work  proceeds  from  the  opposite 
ends,  working  towards  the  centre.  So  sure  are  the  engineers  of 
their  calculations  and  measurements  that  they  would  pursue  the 
same  policy  if  a  tunnel  were  fifty  miles  in  length.  When  the 
workers  from  the  opposed  sides  meet,  there  is  not  usually  more  than 
a  few  inches  of  deviation  discovered  between  the  lines  of  their 
timbering.  Rock-drills  drive  the  holes  into  the  forward  breast 
upon  which  the  men  work,  anywhere  from  eight  to  twenty  holes 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Spree  Tunnel,  showing  Hydraulic  Shield. 


being  driven  to  a  uniform  depth,  which  may  vary  from  four  to 
ten  feet,  according  to  conditions.  When  the  holes  are  bored,  the 
dynamite  is  put  in,  the  laborers  draw  back  and  the  blast  is  set  off. 
If  the  soil  is  loose  or  the  rocks  tend  to  slide,  a  tunnelling  shield 
is  used  to  protect  the  workers,  this  being  advanced  as  the  work 
progresses.  In  the  case  of  the  Simplon  tunnel  electric  power  was 
used  to  drive  the  rock-drills,  the  dynamos  being  driven  by  water- 
power  which  happened  to  be  convenient.  Hydraulic  drills  were 
used,  driven  by  water  under  high  pressure,  thus  securing  rapid 
working. 


SOME    GREAT    CANALS    AND    TUNNELS 


205 


Tunnelling  under  rivers  is  radically  different  from  mountain 
tunnelling.  Flooding  has  to  be  provided  against  at  all  times,  and,  as 
the  work  often  progresses  through  soft  soils,  gravel,  clay,  or  mud, 
the  problems  for  the  engineer  are  very  different.  A  hydraulic  shield 
is  used,  which  is  pushed  forward  by  means  of  hydraulic  jacks. 
There  are  doors  in  the  shield  through  which  the  workmen  may 
remove  the  earth  or  small  boulders,  but  there  is  always  a  pressure 
of  air  in  the  rear  to  prevent  the  water  coming  in.  In  other  words, 
air-locks  are  provided  and  compressed  air  is  supplied  to  the  work- 
men as  the  shield  progresses.     When  a  certain  amount  of  advance 


Courtesy  IngersoU-Sergeant  Company. 

Tunnelling  under  East  River. 

has  been  made  an  iron  or  steel  ring,  somewhat  oval  in  form,  is 
set  into  place  to  form  the  walls  of  the  tunnel.  The  rings  are  made 
oval  in  order  that  they  may  be  passed  through  the  section  of  tun- 
nel already  completed.  If  the  rings  are  very  large  they  are  made  in 
segments,  and  then  it  is  not  necessary  to  make  them  oval,  as  the 
parts  are  brought  in  singly  and  put  together  at  the  final  position. 

In  tunnelling  through  loose  soils  where  there  is  no  danger 
from  flooding,  as  in  building  a  subway  in  a  city,  it  is  cheaper  to 
advance  the  work  with  sheathing  of  planks  or  metal  "  needles," 
which  protect  the  sides  and  top  of  the  work,  and  which  are  easily 
driven  in  where  wanted  and  easily  removed  after  they  have  served 
their  purpose. 


2o6 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


It  is  estimated  that  there  are  about  twelve  hundred  tunnels 
in  the  world,  of  which  more  than  a  thousand  have  been  built  by 
railway  companies  for  their  own  use,  and  nearly  a  hundred  for  the 
passage  of  canals.  As  improved  methods  reduce  the  cost,  and  as 
demand  grows  for  more  direct  routes,  tunnels  become  more  com- 
mon. One  of  these  days  it  will  be  thought  nearly  as  easy  to  bore 
through  a  mountain  as  to  build  a  road  around  it. 

The  subways  of  great  cities  are  a  form  of  tunnel  too  well 
known  to  require  much  space  here.     London  and  Paris  were  first 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Station  in  the  New  York  Subway. 


to  employ  them  for  underground  railways.  Within  a  decade  Bos- 
ton, Chicago,  and  New  York  have  built  extensive  subways.  Nearly 
a  hundred  miles  are  built  or  building  under  Chicago,  while  New 
York  city  has  fifty-eight  miles  built,  in  course  of  construction,  or 
contracted  for.  Tunnelling  under  cities  comes  as  a  necessity  grow- 
ing out  of  the  crowded  conditions.  When  the  travel  overcrowds 
and  cannot  be  turned  any  other  way,  the  subway  is  the  final  re- 
source. It  has  its  dangers,  as  the  Paris  horror  of  1902  testifies,  but 
some  of  these  are  not  apparent  at  first  sight.  Popular  Mechanics 
emphasizes  one  peril  in  time  of  war,  alleging  that  miscreant  spies 
could  use  the  tunnels  to  blow  up  our  large  cities.     It  argues : 


SOME    GREAT    CANALS    AND    TUNNELS 


207 


"  The  United  States  could  not  possibly  do  anything  that  would  add  more 
greatly  to  the  strategic  advantages  of  a  future  enemy  than  to  permit  the  building 
of  these  tunnels.  The  cities  that  are  thus  endangered  by  being  undermined  with 
the  tunnel  systems  are  New  York,  Chicago,  and  Boston.  In  either  of  these 
municipalities,  one  hundred  men  with  less  mechanical  and  inventive  genius  than 
an  Edison  could  work  more  ruin  than  a  whole  fleet  of  war-ships,  even  should  the 
ships  be  allowed  to  ply  their  work  of  the  destruction  without  opposition. 

"  In  America  there  are  sympathizers  of  every  country  on  the  globe.  Should 
war  be  declared  with  any  nation,  there  would  be  thousands  of  men  here  who 
would  be  ready  to  aid  the  opposing  nation.  Being  already  on  the  ground,  they 
could  easily  form  a  secret  organization,  and,  with  the  advantages  the  United 
States  itself  has  afforded  them  by  building  these  tunnels,  they  could  inflict  untold 
punishment  on  us  and  escape  with  little  danger  of  detection.     But  even  without 


The  Chicago  Tunnel  Sewer. 

these  sympathizers  it  would  not  be  a  very  difficult  matter  for  the  enemy  to  slip 
spies  into  these  cities  from  different  points  of  the  Americas  to  perform  the  work. 
"  Bombs  of  the  most  powerful  explosives  made  into  deceptive  forms  could  by 
various  methods  be  placed  at  intervals  along  the  tunnels  and  set  off  mechanically 
at  a  given  moment.  Then  there  would  be  an  explosion  more  terrible  than  an 
earthquake  and  possibly  as  disastrous  as  the  eruption  of  Mount  Pelee.  The 
entire  foundation  of  the  city  would  be  shattered.  Skyscrapers  would  reel  and 
fall  and  all  structures  along  the  routes  of  the  tunnels  would  be  demolished. 
Street  cars,  electric  wires,  and  the  crazed  populace  would  be  buried  in  the  mass 
of  riven  ruin ;  and  the  resultant  conflagration  that  would  soon  sweep  over  the 
entire  city  would  complete  the  work  of  devastation." 

Lest  the  reader  may  be  unduly  frightened  by  these  appalhng 
suggestions,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  civilized  nations  do  not 
approve  of  war  carried  on  by  using  high  explosives  to  blow  up 
non-combatants,  and  no  nation  that  would  undertake  to  fight  the 
United  States  would  be  likely  to  use  these  methods,  preferring  an 
agreement  that  both  sides  abstain  from  such  barbarities. 


GREAT  FARMS  AND  FARMING  MACHINERY 

Agriculture  as  an  industry  demands  a  high  degree  of  intel- 
ligence, a  wide  knowledge  of  conditions,  and  all-around  business 
ability  of  a  very  high  order.  The  most  successful  system  of  farm- 
ing is  that  which  yields  the  largest  financial  returns  without  im- 
poverishing the  soil  for  subsequent  crops.  It  is  a  wise  man  as 
well  as  a  strong  one  who  can  judge  most  certainly  how  to  secure 
the  best  results  from  his  land,  in  the  face  of  sharp  competition  and 
the  uncertainties  of  climate  and  of  the  market.  The  reason  why 
there  are  fewer  successes  in  agriculture  than  in  commerce  and 
manufactures  is  because  it  requires  more  keenness  of  perception, 
more  persistency,  more  training,  and  more  knowledge  of  details 
to  be  a  good  farmer.  The  most  conspicuous  successes  have  been 
made  in  specialties,  as  raising  wheat  on  a  large  scale,  cattle  raising, 
truck  farming,  and  fruit  farming.  While  the  majority  of  farmers 
are  not  rated  as  successful  men,  neither  is  the  average  business 
man,  and  there  are  more  failures  among  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers than  among  agriculturalists.  If  the  farmer  finds  his 
affairs  in  bad  shape,  he  can  usually  retrench,  and  take  some  sort 
of  a  living  out  of  the  soil ;  whereas  the  business  man  who  begins 
to  lose  money  is  very  apt  to  fail  and  involve  others  in  his  losses. 

During  the  past  generation  a  vast  number  of  the  small  farmers 
of  New  England  and  the  older  sections  of  the  United  States  were 
practically  forced  out  of  business  by  the  development  of  the  great 
farms  in  the  West  and  Northwest.  The  hilly  lands  of  the  East, 
frequently  rough  and  stony,  and  always  cut  up  into  small  farms, 
proved  unable  to  compete  with  the  vast  areas  of  level  ground, 
cultivated  and  harvested  in  a  wholesale  manner  by  a  class  of  ma- 
chines that  could  not  possibly  be  employed  on  small  farms  or  on 
rough  ground.  Owing  to  these  vastly  different  conditions,  the 
methods  of  farming  are  totally  different  in  the  West  from  those 
prevailing  in  the  East,  and  the  growing  of  heavy  crops,  such  as 
wheat  and  hay,  are  left  almost  wholly  to  the  great  Western  farms, 
while  the  small  farms  of  the  East  are  in  many  cases  reduced  to 
farming  for  local  consumption  only,  to  raising  of  truck  or  vege- 
tables for  the  cities  near  by,  and  also  to  the  raising  of  small  fruits, 
especially  apples,  peaches,  and  grapes,  or  the  growing  of  tobacco. 

An  idea  of  the  vastness  of  some  of  the  Western  wheat  farms 

208 


GREAT  FARMS  AND  FARMING  MACHINERY 


209 


may  be  gained  from  the  statement  that  the  Mitchell  farm,  in  San 
Joaquin  Valley,  California,  comprises  90,000  acres ;  while  the  Dal- 
rymple  farm,  in  North  Dakota,  is  not  far  behind,  with  70,000  acres. 
The  latter  farm  has  employed  as  many  as  300  binding  reapers  to 
harvest  its  wheat  crop.  Near  the  town  of  Clovis,  Fresno  County, 
California,  is  a  wheat  field  containing  forty  square  miles.  As 
the  ground  lies  almost  in  an  exact  square,  it  presents  during  the 
season  just  before  harvest  the  appearance  of  an  endless  sea  of 
waving  grain.  This  is  the  sort  of  wheat  field  of  which  the  state- 
ment has  been  made  that  the  men  and  teams  breakfast  at  one  end 
of  the  furrow,  take  dinner  at  the  other  end,  and  return  at  night 
to  the  point  of  starting.     If  a  single  man  were  to  undertake  to  plow 


"•^"-^ 


Reaping  in  a  Field  of  Wheat. 

such  a  field  in  the  old-fashioned  way,  it  would  require  sixteen 
years  for  him  to  complete  his  spring  plowing,  as  much  longer  to  do 
the  harrowing,  and,  if  he  were  fortunate,  he  might  finish  sowing 
the  seed  before  he  died;  but,  though  the  preparing  and  sowing 
would  occupy  one  man's  lifetime,  300  modern  steam  harvesters  and 
threshers  can  make  comparatively  short  work  of  the  harvest  in 
even  an  enormous  field  such  as  this.  One  of  these  machines  with 
a  26-foot  cutter  is  expected  to  do  seventy-five  acres  per  day. 

Corn,  wheat,  oats,  barley,  rye  and  rice  constitute  about  one- 
half  of  the  total  value  of  plants  grown  in  the  United  States,  the 
corn  yield  alone  in  1902  being  worth  a  little  over  a  billion  of  dol- 
lars, a  figure  that  will  surprise  many  who  do  not  realize  the  enor- 
mous acreage  devoted  to  this  crop.     A  slight  improvement  in  the 

14 


2IO  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

average  growth  of  corn  may  mean  many  millions  of  dollars  added 
to  the  wealth  of  the  country.  The  Department  of  Agriculture  has 
been  carrying  on  experiments  at  a  station  in  Illinois  for  several 
years,  with  a  view  to  improving  corn  by  methods  of  selection,  and 
the  increase  in  production  has  been  so  great  that  it  has  been  proven 
that,  if  all  the  farmers  in  the  State  had  practised  the  methods  fol- 
lowed at  this  experiment  station,  the  value  of  the  corn  crop  of 
Illinois  for  one  year  only  would  have  been  increased  by  $20,- 
000,000!  The  leading  farmers  of  the  State  were  so  impressed  by 
the  results  that  they  formed  the  Illinois  Seed-Corn  Breeders'  Asso- 
ciation, for  extending  the  work  and  encouraging  and  promoting 
the  growing  of  pure-bred  corn  for  seed. 

This  movement  has  not  only  resulted  in  an  increased  pro- 
duction as  measured  by  bushels,  but  the  character  and  quality  of 
the  grain  itself  are  being  studied  and  improved.  Methods  of  fight- 
ing corn-smut,  the  principal  disease  of  corn,  have  also  made  strong 
progress  through  the  efforts  of  the  Department. 

The  wheat  crop  of  the  United  States  for  1902  was  valued  at 
$422,000,000,  of  which  about  one-third  was  exported,  either  as 
wheat  or  flour.  As  the  yield  per  capita  is  smaller  than  it  was  some 
years  ago,  the  conclusion  is  that  after  another  generation  we  may 
cease  to  be  exporters  of  wheat,  requiring  all  our  crop  for  home 
consumption.  Improvement  in  wheat  cultivation  has  been  less 
marked  than  with  corn.  The  farmers  in  many  cases  seem  to 
raise  it  on  land  that  they  do  not  know  what  else  to  do  with,  and 
the  average  yield,  under  an  average  lack-of-system  tillage,  is  but 
thirteen  bushels  per  acre.  When  it  is  remembered  that  well-tilled 
land  can  be  made  to  produce  thirty  bushels  per  acre  every  year,  it 
becomes  very  apparent  that  there  is  a  great  work  to  be  done  in 
this  country  in  reforming  the  present  slack  methods  of  wheat  grow- 
ing. Our  agriculturists  have  been  giving  their  attention  to  develop- 
ing wonderful  planting  and  harvesting  machines,  but  have  gener- 
ally neglected  high  tillage,  which  is  essential  to  large  crops.  The 
Department  of  Agriculture  is  doing  good  work  in  calling  attention 
to  this  condition  of  affairs. 

The  growing  of  rice  has  increased  very  rapidly  in  the  United 
States  within  a  few  years,  the  yield  in  1902  being  331,000,000 
pounds,  as  against  115,000,000  pounds  in  1898.  Louisiana  and 
Texas  are  the  principal  centres  of  this  increased  production,  which 
is  adding  greatly  to  the  value  of  farms  in  those  States. 

The  hay  crop  of  the  United  States  in  1902  was  reported  by  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  at  59,857,576  tons;    potato  crop,  284,- 


GREAT    FARMS    AND    FARMING    MACHINERY 


211 


632,787  bushels.  The  census  of  1900  gave  the  hop  crop,  208,000 
bales  of  180  pounds;  flaxseed  crop,  20,086,000  pounds;  hemp 
crop,  11,750,630  pounds;  peanuts,  11,964,957  bushels;  sweet  po- 
tatoes, 42,526,696  bushels;  apples,  175,397,626  bushels;  peaches, 
15,433,623  bushels;  pears,  6,625,417  bushels.  In  1902  the  wheat 
crop  of  the  world  was  reported  by  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture  as  follows,  showing  this  country  to  be  by  far  the 
largest  grower  of  wheat  in  the  world : 


Countries. 


United  States 
Canada  .  , 
Argentina 
Chile  .  .  . 
Austria  .  . 
Hungary  . 
Roumania 
Turkey  in  Europe 


Bushels. 


670,063,000 
98,654,000 
56,380,000 
12,000,000 
49.655,000 

168,899,000 
76,220,000 
25,000,000 


Bulgaria 32,000,000 


Countries. 

Bushels. 

Italy    

131,102,000 

Spain 

123,440,000 

France    

352,716,000 

Germany 

i43,3'5,ooo 

Belgium 

14,228,000 

Great  Britain  .    .    . 

60,065,000    1 

Portugal 

10,400,000 

Russia  in  Europe  . 

597,014,000 

British  India    .   .   . 

224)335.000 

Countries. 


Egypt  .... 
Algeria  .... 
Australasia  .  . 
Mexico  .... 
Russia  in  Asia 
Turkey  in  Asia 
Other  countries 

The  world    . 


Bushels. 


12,000,000 
27,000,000 
43,927,000 
12,403,000 
81,693,000 
35,000,000 
97,291,000 


3,.!24,422,000 


Of  late  years  there  has  been  some  tendency  towards  reducing 
the  area  of  individual  large  farms,  and  very  probably  some  of  those 
previously  mentioned  may  be  reduced  before  this  reaches  the  reader. 
The  sections  that  are  most  likely  to  remain  as  large  farms  operated 
for  single  crops  are  those  which  in  their  natural  state  possess  quali- 
ties of  soil  adapting  them  specially  to  the  growth  of  wheat  or  other 
cereals. 

The  great  wheat  farms  of  Minnesota  and  North  and  South 
Dakota  are  not  usually  fertilized  except  by  the  process  of  fallowing. 
In  the  case  of  the  cultivated  wheat  farms  rotation  of  crops  is  not 
practical,  because  of  the  limited  amount  of  rainfall. 

In  1900  there  were  290,724  persons  engaged  in  agricultural 
occupations  in  the  United  States,  or  a  little  more  than  eleven  per 
cent,  of  the  working  population.  The  majority  of  this  farming 
population  is  located  on  the  small  farms,  the  work  on  the  large 
farms  being  performed  with  a  comparatively  small  number  of  men. 
The  figures  showing  the  growth  in  number  of  farming  machines  and 
tools  are  startling.  In  1840  there  were  but  three  reapers  made; 
by  1850  the  number  had  increased  to  3000,  and  by  1880  to  60,000, 
while  the  total  in  use  in  1904  is  figured  at  two  and  a  half  millions. 

Some  idea  of  the  immense  volume  of  American  agricultural 
industry  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  list  of  implements 
manufactured  in  the  country  during  that  year,  the  list  including 
only  those  of  ^vhich  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  were  made, 
and  excluding  such  small  tools  as  hoes  (of  which  three  and  a  third 


212  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

million  were  manufactured)  and  snaths  (of  which  over  half  a 
million  were  made)  :  corn-planters,  208,000;  cultivators,  502,000; 
harrows,  300,000;  shovel-plows,  102,000;  sulky-plows,  136,000; 
old-fashioned  plows,  819,000;  harvesters  and  binders,  233,000; 
horse  hay-forks,  620,000;  horse  hay-rakes,  216,000;  mowers, 
398,000;   and  corn-shellers,  106,000. 

The  amount  of  hand  labor  now  required  to  produce  a  bushel 
of  wheat  is  only  ten  minutes,  valued  at  three  and  a  third  cents ;  in 
1830  it  was  three  hours  and  ten  minutes,  the  cost  being  seventeen 
and  three-quarter  cents. 

A  comparison  drawn  between  the  manual  labor  required  on  a 
ton  of  hay  in  i860,  when  there  was  no  improved  machinery,  and 
1894,  after  the  mower,  hay-tedder,  and  hay-rake  came  in,  shows 
that  in  the  former  case  the  hours  of  hand  labor  were  thirty-five 
and  a  half,  valued  at  $1.29,  and  in  the  latter  eleven  hours  and 
thirty-four  minutes,  valued  at  $3.06. 

If  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  should  raise  crops  of  the 
present  size  by  the  old  methods  of  fifty  years  ago,  the  increased 
cost  of  the  corn  crop  each  year  would  be  $523,000,000;  of  wheat, 
$79,000,000;  of  oats,  $53,000,000;  and  of  hay,  $10,000,000.  The 
introduction  of  the  automatic  cord-binder  was  the  cause  of  the 
great  demand  for  harvesting  machines,  which  began  in  the  early 
eighties.  The  largest  manufacturer  in  the  country  of  harvesting 
machinery  makes  in  a  single  year  75,000  self-binding  harvesters, 
more  than  100,000  mowers,  9000  corn  harvesters,  10,000  reapers, 
and  75,000  horse  hay-rakes. 

On  the  large  level  farms  of  the  great  West  plowing  is  never 
done  with  a  single  horse  and  plow,  as  in  the  East,  but  the  plows 
are  set  in  gangs  and  driven  by  great  traction  steam-engines.  When 
the  field  is  fairly  well  softened  the  wheat  plowing  can  be  done  with 
gangs  of  rotary  plows,  these  having  cupped  disks  set  at  an  angle 
and  weighted  so  as  to  sink  into  the  soil,  as  shown  in  the  illus- 
tration. The  use  of  the  traction  engine  instead  of  horse-power 
renders  possible  the  employment  of  reapers  and  harvesters  of  great 
size  with  cutting  power  of  unusual  strength. 

The  machines  employed  are  as  far  as  possible  arranged  in 
combination,  so  that  the  labor  of  a  few  men  may  accomplish  a 
great  deal  of  work.  For  instance,  a  traction  engine  may  be  arranged 
to  draw  a  line  of  plows,  while  hitched  immediately  in  the  rear  is 
a  row  of  harrows,  and  behind  these  are  a  drill  for  sowing  the  seed 
and  rakes  for  covering  it.  In  the  reaping  operation  the  traction 
engine  draws  mechanism  that  not  only  heads  the  wheat,  but  also 


GREAT  FARMS  AND  FARMING  MACHINERY 


213 


threshes  it,  cleans  it,  and  puts  it  into  sacks  at  a  single  continuous 
operation. 

On  the  Western  wheat  farms  the  straw  is  usually  burned  in 
the  field,  this  being  necessary  because  it  cannot  be  plowed  under  and 
absorbed  by  the  light  soil,  which  lacks  moisture.  The  burning  saves 
the  ash  as  an  aid  to  fertilization,  although  the  nitrogen  is  lost. 

The  United  States  produces  more  wheat  than  is  required  for 
home  demands ;  so  do  Russia,  Hungary,  Roumania,  Bulgaria,  and 
Servia.     Our  wheat  fields,  therefore,  not  only  supply  the  principal 


A  Six-Disk  Steam-Plow  at  Work. 


item  of  food  for  the  Eastern  States,  but  also  furnish  a  share  for  the 
countries  that  have  to  buy,  which  are  principally  Great  Britain, 
France,  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy.  Russia  might  be  as  great  a 
wheat-producing  country  as  the  United  States,  and  probably  will 
be  within  another  generation;  but  the  slow  development  of  rail- 
ways there  and  the  general  lack  of  enterprise  keep  her  behind  us 
in  agricultural  development.  The  time  will  come,  however,  when 
Russia  will  have  the  advantage  in  competing  with  us  in  feeding 
the  countries  named,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Great  Britain. 
For  the  year  ending  June  30,  1903,  we  exported  114,181,420 
bushels  of  wheat  and  19,716,484  barrels  of  wheat  flour. 


214 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  development  of  American  farming  is  very  much  ov^ing 
to  the  wise  expenditures  of  the  government  in  the  maintenance  of 
an  Agricuhural  Department,  and  various  agricultural  colleges  and 
stations  for  scientific  study  of  the  problems  that  confront  the  tiller 
of  the  soil.  Some  fifty-five  million  dollars  have  been  invested  in 
buildings,  apparatus,  machinery,  libraries,  and  equipment  for  these 
institutions,  which  have  a  total  income  of  over  six  million  dollars 
a  year.  Our  agricultural  colleges  now  contain  over  30,000  stu- 
dents, of  whom  over  4000  take  special  courses  in  agriculture. 

In  breeding  plants  the  most  recent  theory  is  to  discard  nov- 
elty and  to  seek  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  special  plant  under 
experiment ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of  corn,  the  endeavor 
would  be  to  cross  varieties  in  a  way  to  strengthen  resistance  to 
drought  or  to  increase  its  starch  contents.  It  is  not  the  beautiful 
form  of  an  ear  of  corn  that  determines  the  value  of  a  variety  so 
much  as  its  food  quality  and  its  resistance  to  disease.  Formerly 
it  would  have  been  considered  valuable  to  produce  a  variety  of 
string-bean  with  a  beautifully  formed  pod  having  very  little  string; 
but  according  to  the  latest  ideas  the  pod  is  of  very  little  importance, 
and  the  point  sought  in  trying  to  produce  a  better  string-bean  is 
to  secure  the  fullest  amount  of  protein  in  the  bean  and  to  have  a 
plant  that  will  do  well  in  dry  seasons.  This  theory  of  progress, 
which  is  making  some  advancement,  is  calculated  to  do  away  with 
the  notion  that  new  varieties  are  desirable.  It  is  the  general  im- 
provement of  a  special  plant  that  is  aimed  at,  rather  than  the  pro- 
duction of  a  special  variety.  This  sort  of  education  comes  from 
the  agricultural  schools,  whereas  the  growth  and  spread  of  the 
variety  idea  came  from  individuals  who  sought  to  make  money  out 
of  a  special  plant  they  could  control. 

The  Bureau  of  Soils  connected  with  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  has  recently  issued  a  pamphlet  containing  the 
results  of  an  exhaustive  investigation  of  the  chemistry  of  soils 
with  a  view  to  judging  of  their  suitability  to  raising  certain  crops. 
The  members  of  the  bureau  have  evidently  expended  a  great  amount 
of  intelligent  thought  and  labor  on  this  problem,  and  their  conclu- 
sion is  that  the  chemical  examination  of  the  soil  is  of  little  value 
as  tending  to  show  the  probable  yield  of  a  crop.  The  fertility  of 
the  soil  is  demonstrated  to  be  due  mainly  to  the  supply  of  water 
and  plant  food;  if  the  proper  food  is  there,  and  the  moisture  is 
supplied  to  bring  it  into  solution,  so  that  the  plants  can  use  it,  the 
crop  will  be  benefited;  but  if  there  is  a  lack  of  proper  plant  food, 
or  a   lack   of   necessary  moisture,    the   yield   must   necessarily   be 


GREAT    FARMS    AND    FARMING    MACHINERY 


215 


restricted.  The  conclusions  of  the  bureau  are  simple,  and  have 
been  held  as  theories  by  intelligent  farmers,  but  now  have  been 
practically  demonstrated  and  worked  out  with  great  pains  as  the 
result  of  a  long  series  of  experiments. 

The  earlier  work  of  the  agricultural  societies  lay  in  the  anal- 
yses of  soils  and  fertilizers.  In  this  way  the  value  of  commer- 
cial artificial  fertilizers  and  the  needs  of  particular  soils  were  deter- 
mined,  and  published   for  the  benefit   of   farmers   interested.      It 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Apparatus  for  Stud3'ing  Soil-Grains. 


may  be  interesting  to  describe  the  most  recent  apparatus  for  deter- 
mining the  effective  size  of  soil-grains.  It  has  a  receptacle  for  water, 
an  aspirator  from  whose  bell  a  tube  leads  to  an  air-chamber,  and  a 
soil-tube  closed  at  one  end  and  covered  with  wire  gauze  at  the  other ; 
an  air  meter  is  used  with  this  and  a  pressure  gauge.  With  this  appa- 
ratus any  specific  soil  may  be  examined  and  tested  as  to  its  qualities 
for  holding  moisture  and  for  the  solution  of  plant  foods. 

For  the  work  of  our  agricultural  stations  there  have  been  de- 
veloped groups  of  scientific  experts  to  take  up  the  different  prob- 
lems from  such  view-points  as  chemistry,  botany,  physics,  zoology, 


2i6  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

agronomy,  horticulture,  forestry,  entomology,  etc.  The  students 
of  the  last-named  science  have  made  extensive  researches  in  regard 
to  beneficial  and  injurious  insects,  and  one  institution  in  Ohio  has 
a  collection  of  about  4000  insects  that  have  been  reared  and  studied 
at  that  station. 

The  study  of  new  varieties  of  crops  has  resulted  in  a  number 
of  successes,  and  most  noteworthy  among  them  is  that  of  import- 
ing the  Australian  saltbush.  This  was  originally  sought  in  order 
to  redeem  the  semi-arid  lands  of  the  West,  and  it  was  found  that 
it  rendered  available  for  grazing  thousands  of  acres  that  were  pre- 
viously considered  worthless.  Incidentally  its  culture  led  to  the  dis- 
covery that  all  upland  soils  in  arid  climates  contain  from  2000  to 
4000  pounds  of  alkali  per  acre,  although  there  is  usually  no  visible 
indication  of  it. 

In  testing  varieties  of  small  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  in  study- 
ing practical  methods  of  improving  them,  the  agricultural  stations 
have  aided  greatly  in  building  up  horticultural  science.  The  work 
of  the  experts  and  students  at  the  stations  is  very  largely  added  to 
by  the  thousands  of  co-operative  agricultural  experiments  under- 
taken by  farmers  who  are  interested  in  the  work  of  the  stations. 
The  agricultural  stations  furnish  plans  of  work  for  these,  and  all 
the  seeds,  fertilizers,  fungicides  and  other  materials  required,  and 
also  assist  the  farmer  with  any  required  data  as  to  the  nature  of 
his  soil  and  what  it  may  require.  In  return  for  this  the  farmer 
usually  gives  the  use  of  land  and  labor,  which  is  of  benefit  to  the 
station. 

The  dairy  farmers  have  received  a  great  deal  of  assistance 
from  the  agricultural  department;  the  constituents  of  milk  having 
undergone  a  great  deal  of  study;  also  methods  of  feeding  cows 
and  determining  the  amount  of  fat  and  other  ingredients  of  the 
milk,  the  investigation  having  also  extended  into  the  dangers  of 
milk  infection,  as  in  the  case  of  tuberculous  cows,  and  effective 
work  has  been  done  along  the  lines  of  pasteurization  as  well  as  in 
methods  of  sterilization.  The  use  of  cultures  in  butter-making  and 
cheese-making,  as  undertaken  in  the  ripening  of  cheese,  have  also 
furnished  fertile  fields  of  work. 

As  our  population  increases  it  is  evident  that  there  must  be 
a  curtailment  of  the  land  now  devoted  to  grazing  animals.  The 
cattle  range  is  located  where  the  land  is  of  trifling  value,  but  as 
values  increase  it  is  necessary  to  confine  animals  to  smaller  areas. 
The  agricultural  stations  have  proven  that  a  farm  animal  can  be 
kept  on  about  one-tenth  of  the  land  used  in  cattle  ranges,  by  correct 


GREAT  FARMS  AND  FARMING  MACHINERY 


217 


methods  of  preserving  herbage  for  its  use.  Green  cattle  foods  can 
be  preserved,  by  the  use  of  the  silo,  in  a  state  that  is  almost  as 
valuable  for  future  consumption  as  at  the  time  they  are  cut.  The 
stalks  of  Indian  corn  and  sorghum  and  other  green  forage  crops 
are  all  nutritious  and  good  to  be  used  as  cattle  foods  if  they  are 
properly  intermixed  with  other  foods. 

When  it  comes  to  the  question  of  feeding  the  greater  popu- 
lation that  will  occupy  our  land  fifty  or  one  hundred  years  to  come, 
the  agricultural  student  meets  the  point  by  demonstrating  that 
whereas  the  present  average  yield  of  wheat  to  the  acre  in  the  United 
States  is  about  thirteen  bushels,  and  that  of  Indian  corn  about 
twenty-seven  bushels,  with  proper  attention  to  feeding  the  soil  sci- 
entifically, the  production  of  wheat  can  be  increased  three  or  four 
times,  while  that  of  Indian  corn  can  be  considerably  more  than 
doubled. 

The  trucking  business  is  a  modern  development  of  what  was 
formerly  termed  market  gardening.  The  modern  trucker  under- 
takes to  raise  fruits  and  vegetables  to  supply  the  market  in  some 
great  centre  during  the  entire  year.  There  has  been  a  steady  growth 
in  this  branch  of  the  farming  industry,  owing  to  the  demand  of 
cities  for  a  better  and  more  varied  supply  of  food,  and  to  the  in- 
creased facilities  for  transportation  and  preservation.  It  has  be- 
come of  such  commercial  importance  that  in  some  localities  whole 
blocks  are  devoted  entirely  to  the  produce  business,  and  men  of 
means  and  ability  engage  in  it,  whereas  it  was  formerly  followed 
mainly  by  men  of  humble  aspirations.  To  the  truck-farmer  we  owe 
the  methods  that  have  been  termed  "  intensive"  farming,  by  which 
a  single  acre  is  sometimes  made  to  yield  a  $500  crop,  and  is  culti- 
vated and  cared  for  like  the  flowers  in  a  hot-house.  He  knows  how 
to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  agricultural  colleges  and  experiment 
stations,  and  is  ever  the  first  to  grasp  a  new  thing  in  seeds  or  buy 
a  new  fertilizer. 

In  the  vicinity  of  all  the  great  cities  of  the  country  the  truck- 
farmer  flourishes,  mostly  sending  his  produce  to  a  commission  mer- 
chant, who  handles  it  on  a  ten  per  cent,  basis,  though  some  of  the 
more  clever  secure  direct  trade  with  the  hotels  and  other  large 
buyers.  While  the  bulk  of  shipments  are  from  the  South,  where 
the  temperature  is  mild,  to  the  cities  of  the  North,  where  fruit  and 
vegetables  do  not  ripen  so  soon,  yet  there  is  considerable  trade  in 
the  other  direction.  For  instance.  New  York  City  secures  nearly 
all  her  late  fruits  from  the  small-fruit  section  up  the  Hudson  River, 
centring    between    Newburgh    and    Poughkeepsie,    and    northern- 


2l8 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


grown  potatoes,  cabbages,  onions,  and  celery  are  sold  in  the  South 
every  winter. 

For  reasons  which  it  is  hard  to  fathom,  certain  articles  of  pro- 
duce have  tended  to  centre  in  certain  sections.  Crystal  Springs, 
Mississippi,  is  the  greatest  tomato-shipping  point  in  the  world; 
Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  is  famous  for  its  celery ;  Marlborough,  New 
York,  is  the  place  for  raspberries;  and  Rocky  Ford,  Colorado,  for 
cantaloupes. 

Water  transportation  is  favored  by  all  truckers,  not  so  much 
because  the  rates  are  apt  to  be  lower  than  by  rail,  as  because  the 
produce,  especially  fruit,  tomatoes,  etc.,  is  apt  to  arrive  in  much 
better   condition,   being  subjected   to   fewer  jars.      The   railroads 


The  Ivel  Aa-ricultuial  Motor. 


have  learned  to  cater  to  the  trade,  however,  and  on  many  lines 
there  are  now  well-ventilated  fruit-cars,  with  springs  and  air- 
brakes like  a  passenger-coach,  and  in  some  instances  these  cars 
are  sent  through  at  express  speeds,  so  that  the  fruit  may  arrive 
promptly  and  in  good  condition.  With  such  conveniences,  perish- 
able and  delicate  fruits  may  commonly  be  shipped  for  distances  not 
exceeding  a  forty-eight-hour  run,  although  in  either  very  hot,  very 
rainy,  or  very  dusty  weather  the  fruit  is  liable  to  serious  depreciation 
from  such  a  journey.  Refrigerator  transportation  is  now  coming 
more  and  more  into  use  for  fruits,  having  been  so  successful  in  the 
transportation  of  meats. 

In  1637  there  were  thirty-seven  plows  in  the  whole  colony  in 
the  vicinity  of  Massachusetts  Bay.     Those  who  owned  them  either 


GREAT  FARMS  AND  FARMING  MACHINERY 


219 


did  the  plowing  for  their  neighbors  or  loaned  the  plows  when  not 
in  use.  A  great  deal  of  the  land  was  tilled  with  hoes  and  mat- 
tocks. This  condition  of  affairs  did  not  change  much  in  the  next 
hundred  years,  and  it  was  not  until  1797  that  the  first  cast-iron 
plow  was  made.  This  was  patented  by  Charles  Newbold,  of  New 
Jersey;  but  so  slow  were  the  farmers  of  that  time  to  recognize 
an  improvement  that  he  did  not  live  to  see  many  of  them  in  use. 
It  was  forty  years  after  the  date  of  his  patent  that  the  first  of 
these  plows  was  used  in  New  Hampshire,  the  farmers  objecting  to 
it  on  the  theory  that  it  might  poison  the  land.  But  after  1840 
iron  plows  began  to  come  in  use  with  some  degree  of  rapidity.  The 
Oliver  chilled  plow,  which  came  out  in  1870,  had  a  great  run,  and 
was  followed  in  later  years  by  the  sulky-plow,  which  relieves  the 
farmer  of  a  great  portion  of  the  hard  work  in  plowing.  These 
plows  are  now  made  adjustable  for  wide  or  narrow  furrows,  and 
the  share  can  be  raised  from  the  ground  by  a  power  lift,  so  as  to 
pass  over  a  large  stone,  and  can  then  be  reset  by  a  foot-lever. 

The  early  harrows  were  mere  home-made  wooden  frames  car- 
rying a  lot  of  wooden  pegs  for  scratching  the  ground.  Now  we 
have  the  pulverizing  harrow,  clod-crusher  and  leveller,  combined 
in  one  machine,  which  passes  over  a  plowed  field  and  reduces 
every  lump  of  earth  and  sod  to  a  given  size,  leaving  everything 
level.  The  operator  of  this  harrow  sits  in  a  comfortable  seat,  con- 
trolling it  with  the  lever.    The  disk  type  of  harrow  is  also  common. 

The  minor  machines  for  the  use  of  the  farmer  have  become 
very  numerous.  There  is  not  a  kind  of  seed  that  has  not  a  planting 
machine  adapted  to  sowing  it,  and  which  can  be  relied  upon  to 
distribute  the  proper  quantity,  and  not  to  sow  more  thickly  in  one 
place  than  another,  not  only  economizing  seed  but  doing  the  work 
much  more  evenly  than  it  could  possibly  be  done  by  hand.  The 
broadcast  seeder  is  used  for  grain  and  grass,  being  attached  to  an 
ordinary  wagon.  All  the  intelligence  required  for  its  operation  is 
that  the  hopper  shall  be  kept  full  and  the  wagon  driven  over  the 
land.  In  addition  to  doing  the  work  of  seeding,  some  of  these 
machines  can  be  used  to  distribute  dry  commercial  fertilizers. 

For  such  grains  as  require  to  be  planted  systematically  in  rows 
or  hills,  there  is  manufactured  a  grain-drill  that  can  be  adjusted 
to  put  the  grain  just  where  it  is. wanted;  this  machine  is  provided 
with  a  system  of  hoes  for  covering  the  seed  planted  by  a  straight 
or  zigzag  movement.  Another  form  of  grain-drill  can  be  used  also 
as  a  weeder.  Yet  another  planting-machine  is  designed  for  drill- 
ing holes  for  beans,  which  are  dropped  in  to  the  proper  number 


220 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


and  covered,  while  the  machine  marks  the  correct  distance  for  the 
next  hole.  This  wonderful  little  machine  can  be  arranged  to  plant 
alternate  rows  of  corn  and  beans  and  also  to  distribute  fertilizer, 
working  it  into  the  soil. 

The  latest  form  of  potato-planter  really  seems  to  be  capable 
of  thinking.  It  picks  up  the  potatoes  and  sorts  them  over,  cutting 
them  into  the  desired  number  of  parts,  separating  the  eyes  and 
removing  the  seed-ends.  It  can  be  arranged  to  plant  either  whole 
or  parts  of  potatoes  at  any  reasonable  distance  from  hill  to  hill. 
It  drops  the  potato,  throws  in  the  proper  amount  of  fertilizer,  piles 
the  earth  over  it  in  a  little  hill,  and  marks  off  the  place  for  the  next 


The  Gas  Engine  on  the  Farm  (operating  a  Cream  Separator). 

hill.  For  the  purpose  of  starting  tender  vegetables,  as  celery,  let- 
tuce, cauliflower,  tomatoes,  etc.,  in  cold  frames,  for  transplanting, 
there  is  a  plant-seeder  machine,  which  picks  up  the  tender  sprouts 
with  the  utmost  care,  and  settles  them  in  the  earth,  which  is  gath- 
ered up  around  the  roots  as  well  as  any  human  hand  could  do  it; 
then  adding  a  good  sprinkle  of  water,  in  order  that  the  plant  may 
survive.  Notwithstanding  the  delicacy  of  the  work,  this  little  ma- 
chine is  capable  of  covering  five  acres  in  a  single  day. 

Cultivating  machines  have  been  highly  developed  and  a  farmer 
may  now  have  one  for  each  sort  of  crop.  These  are  usually  pro- 
vided with  a  seat,  so  that  the  rider  is  as  comfortable  as  in  a  buggy, 
while  the  machine  rolls  along,  seeming  instinctively  to  recognize 


GREAT    FARMS    AND    FARMING    MACHINERY  221 

the  difference  between  the  weeds  and  crop  plants,  and  passing  by 
the  latter  carefully,  while  each  weed  is  snatched  rudely  from  the 
soil.  The  fact  is  that  there  are  so  many  beautiful  little  machines 
for  the  farmer's  use  that  the  owner  of  a  small  farm  has  to  be  care- 
ful not  to  keep  himself  poor  by  buying  machines  to  do  his  work. 

Electricity  has  proven  of  some  use  to  the  farmer,  there  being 
manufactured  a  number  of  motors  for  driving  threshing-machines, 
winnowing-machines  and  the  like.  At  the  agricultural  institution 
of  the  University  of  Konisberg  is  a  farm  with  an  electric-power 
plant  that  is  used  for  lighting  and  for  supplying  power  to  the  pump, 
saw,  threshing-machines,  cream-separators,  etc.  Its  most  curious 
use  is  supplying  power  for  the  driving  of  the  electric  plow,  which 
work  may  be  regarded  more  as  an  experiment  than  of  practical 
utility.  The  main  product  of  this  farm  is  flaxseed,  and  the  crush- 
ing of  the  seed  is  done  economically  by  an  electrically  driven  crusher. 
The  electric  plant  is  operated  at  small  cost  by  means  of  a  turbine, 
drawing  power  from  a  river  that  flows  by  the  farm. 

What  may  be  expected  in  the  future  of  mowing-machines  is 
indicated  by  an  auto-mower  that  has  been  manufactured  by  the 
McCormick  concern.  This  may  be  described  as  a  combination  of 
automobile  and  mowing-machine.  The  ten  horse-power  gasolene 
engine  that  furnishes  the  power  is  provided  with  double  cylinders, 
a  chain  and  sprocket  conveying  the  power  to  the  driving-wheel  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  machine  can  either  be  run  backward  or 
forward.  The  power  is  transmitted  to  the  cutting-blade  by  gears 
operating  through  a  friction-clutch,  and  the  steering  is  done  by  a 
crank  connected  with  the  guide-wheel  in  front  of  the  cutter-bar. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  farmers  of 
Central  Michigan  secure  telephone  service  at  the  moderate  cost  of 
$3  per  year,  which  would  indicate  that  they  are  better  financiers 
than  some  users  of  the  telephone  in  cities.  Their  farm  telephoning 
grew  out  of  the  building  of  a  private  line  five  miles  long  at 
Horton,  Michigan,  a  number  of  local  residents  contributing  towards 
the  expense.  This  system  grew  because  neighboring  farmers  de- 
sired to  connect  with  it,  and  the  expense  of  maintaining  central 
stations  was  avoided  by  making  use  of  the  local  mills,  or  some 
country  store,  where  they  were  glad  to  do  the  work  of  connect- 
ing the  subscribers  for  the  use  of  the  telephone  free,  and  the 
business  which  came  to  them  through  being  a  telephone  centre. 
This  system  is  extended  through  a  large  number  of  Michigan  towns, 
the  original  owners,  now  stockholders,  receiving  the  service  for 
$3  a  year,  and  charging  outsiders  a  $15  fee  for  coming  in.     This 


222 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


system  is  so  cheap  and  satisfactory  that  it  would  seem  to  require 
only  to  be  started  in  any  farm  community  to  become  a  permanent 
success. 

Taken  altogether  the  farming  business  of  the  United  States 
is  in  a  more  healthy  condition  that  it  has  even  been,  and  the  methods 
are  in  advance  of  those  employed  in  any  other  country.     While 


Courtesy  Electrical  AA'orld  and  Engineer 


A  Telephone  Dissected. 


very  many  of  the  holders  of  small  farms  are  not  in  a  prosperous 
condition,  because  of  the  competition  of  those  who  operate  large 
farms  with  modern  machinery,  yet  the  business  is  as  good  on  an 
average  as  any  other  in  which  there  is  general  competition.  If 
the  farmer  has  less  cash  than  the  merchant  or  manufacturer,  he 
has  compensation  in  living  an  out-door  life  that  is  more  natural, 
and  which  makes  his  physical  condition  usually  superior  to  that 
of  the  man  in  the  city. 


THE   IRON   HORSE   AND   THE   RAILWAYS 

To  railways  the  United  States  is  largely  indebted  for  its  com- 
manding position  as  a  commercial  nation.  We  were  the  first  to 
realize  the  enormous  advantages  of  railways,  and  we  built  more 
and  faster  than  any  of  the  old  countries  of  Europe.  The  railways 
enabled  us  to  trade  with  each  other ;  the  facilities  for  trade  resulted 
in  the  development  of  large  manufacturing  industries,  and  when 
these  had  completely  stocked  our  own  markets,  they  began  to  com- 
pete for  the  trade  of  other  countries,  and  secured  a  leading  share. 

All  this  we  owe  in  large  measure  to  the  railways.  The  iron 
horse  of  Stevenson  has  never  been  dethroned,  only  developed,  and 
the  locomotive  of  to-day  is  vastly  more  powerful  than  in  its  early 
history,  and  handles  freight  traffic  at  an  exceedingly  small  cost. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  scandal  that  has  attended  the  financing  of 
railways,  the  watering  of  stock,  the  gutting  of  treasuries,  the  re- 
ceiverships, and  kindred  evils,  the  railways  have  been  an  enormous 
and  inestimable  benefit  to  the  country,  and  have  developed  great 
stretches  of  territory  that  would  be  not  one-tenth  populated  with- 
out them ;  and  infant  industries,  born  under  their  procreative  power, 
have  grown  to  giant  corporations  and  trusts. 

There  has  been  talk  in  the  United  States  about  the  decay  of 
steam  railroads,  because  the  track  mileage  does  not  grow  as  fast 
as  it  used  to ;  but  it  must  be  remembered,  having  within  a  genera- 
tion covered  the  immediate  needs  of  the  inhabitants,  that  thou- 
sands more  miles  of  tracks  are  not  needed  except  for  the  grad- 
ual increase  in  trade  and  population.  Then  the  trolley  has  been 
pointed  out  as  foreshadowing  the  doom  of  the  steam  roads.  The 
trolley  is  but  another  form  of  railway,  and  it  matters  not  if  electric 
propulsion  shall  in  time  largely  take  the  place  of  the  steam  loco- 
motive, the  railways  will  still  be  doing  their  work.  The  automo- 
bile has  been  cited  as  another  invention  that  would  sweep  aside 
the  railways,  but  it  will  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  The  auto  is  simply 
a  locomotive  made  to  run  on  a  roadway  instead  of  a  railway,  and  it 
can  never  carry  freight  with  half  the  economy  that  it  can  be  car- 
ried on  rails.  The  railway  locomotive  may  profit  by  imitating  some 
of  the  good  points  of  the  auto,  but  will  never  be  displaced  by  it. 

Over  against  all  that  has  been  written  in  bitter  and  sweeping 
denunciation  of  railroads  as  greedy  and  selfish  monopolies,  sucking 

223 


224 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


the  life-blood  of  the  people,  might  be  set  not  one  volume,  but  many, 
showing  what  large  and  important  factors  the  railroads  of  the  world 
have  been  in  bringing  light  into  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  sub- 
duing the  forces  of  savagery  and  heathendom,  converting  deserts 
and  wildernesses  into  blossoming  gardens,  developing  resources  of 
wealth  and  prosperity,  and  giving  all  life  a  new  and  larger  hope  and 
a  wider  range  of  activities. 

The  railways  are  here,  and  here  they  are  likely  to  stay  for  gen- 
erations to  come;  but  they  are  subject  to  change,  and,  unless  the 
writer  is  mistaken,  methods  of  train-hauling  will  be  subject  to  great 
and  important  alterations  within  a  few  decades.    The  freight  service 


A  Baldwin  Electric  Locomotive. 


will  remain  much  as  it  is,  going  on  to  gradually  heavier  road-beds 
and  using  larger  locomotives  hauling  heavier  trains ;  but  in  passen- 
ger service  there  will  be  radical  improvements  and  marked  increase 
in  speed.  Discussing  this  topic  in  1895,  the  writer  said,  of  a  railway 
projected  to  operate  at  a  speed  of  120  miles  an  hour,  "  The  whole 
plan  is  so  entirely  practical  that  it  is  only  a  matter  of  time  when 
such  roads  will  be  established  between  all  important  points."  It  is 
perhaps  pardonable  to  revert  thus  to  one's  own  prophecies  when 
their  realization  is  imminent.  The  ingenious  men  who  figured  out 
the  practicability  of  such  railway  speeds  a  decade  ago  have  been 
sowing  seed  and  making  converts  to  their  theories,  and  the  pub- 
lic is  now  largely  aroused  to  the  advantages  of  such  rapid  transit, 
and  in  Germany,  England,  and  America  there  are  movements  in 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


22^ 


progress  that  are  sure  to  give  the  pubHc  this  high-speed  service 
before  another  ten  years  has  elapsed. 

What  are  known  as  the  Berhn-Zossen  experiments  have  been 
the  most  successful  up  to  this  time.  Early  in  1902  an  alternating- 
current  locomotive,  designed  by  Herr  Walter  Reichel,  attained  a 


Berlin-Zossen  Electric  Railway,  Illustrating  Track  ar,d  Interior  of  Car. 

speed  of  99^^  miles  an  hour  at  one  of  the  tests.  This  was  accom- 
plished with  a  96-ton  car.  The  Prussian  state  railroads  held  out 
inducements  to  locomotive  builders  that  interested  them  in  these 
tests,  and  it  was  arranged  that  a  number  of  new  designs  of  steam 
locomotives,  and  also  electric  locomotives,  should  be  constructed  in 

15 


226  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

order  to  secure  still  better  results.  From  time  to  time  we  have 
received  reports  of  yet  greater  and  greater  speeds  at  these  tests,  the 
125-mile-an-hour  notch  being  passed  in  the  summer  of  1903,  and  a 
little  later  130  being  attained.  The  engineers  in  charge  of  these 
experiments  speak  confidently  of  making  140  miles  an  hour  before 
long  in  a  speed  test,  though  not  recommending  the  operating  of 
trains  at  an  enduring  speed  of  more  than  ninety-three  miles  an  hour. 
The  125-mile  speed  was  made  with  a  car  equipped  with  Siemens- 
Halske  electric  motors,  there  being  four  on  the  car,  giving  a  total 
horse-power  of  a  little  over  1000.  The  current  supplied  was  be- 
tween 13,000  and  14,000  voltage. 

Stimulated  by  such  reports  from  Germany,  the  English  par- 
liament has  recently  authorized  the  construction  of  a  monorail  road 
on  the  Behr  system,  between  Manchester  and  Liverpool,  designed  for 
speeds  of  no  miles  an  hour.  A  London  newspaper  states  that  the 
money  required  to  build  the  line,  $300,000,  has  all  been  subscribed; 
but  probably  this  is  only  the  first  instalment  of  expense,  unless  they 
have  some  cheaper  method  of  railroad  building  than  is  known  here. 
The  Behr  system  consists  of  a  single  rail  set  on  a  trestle  work  about 
four  feet  above  the  ordinary  ground  level.  As  the  cars  straddle 
this  rail,  the  seats  coming  dowai  below  its  level  on  either  side,  run- 
ning off  the  track  is  impossible.  There  are  guard-rails  on  the  lower 
sides  of  the  trestle,  against  which  small  wheels  of  the  car  bear,  in 
order  to  secure  an  upright  position  or  the  proper  inclination  in 
rounding  a  curve. 

The  top  rails  are  of  heavy  steel,  similar  to  those  used  on  ordi- 
nary steam  roads.  The  ground  ties  are  of  steel,  set  in  cement  and 
rock  ballast.  Electric  motors  are  used  to  drive  the  wheels,  all 
supporting  wheels  being  "  drivers."  The  passenger  cars  are  of  four 
tons'  weight  and  sixty  feet  long,  seating  thirty-two  persons.  The 
running  time  between  Manchester  and  Liverpool,  thirty-four  miles, 
will  be  twenty  minutes.  A  double-track  line  is  built,  so  that  trains 
will  run  simultaneously  in  both  directions,  carrying  passengers, 
mail,  and  light  parcels  only, 

America,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  a  little  behind  in  this  competition 
in  great  speeds ;  still,  we  have  a  monorail  system,  a  company  in- 
corporated to  back  it,  with  franchises  granted  from  Washington, 
D.  C,  through  Baltimore,  to  Gettysburg.  A  small  experimental  line 
has  been  operated  successfully  at  Baltimore,  and  work  is  to  be  begun 
on  the  main  line  at  once.  This  road  could  run  its  cars  100  or  more 
miles  in  an  hour,  were  it  not  that  it  wnll  have  but  eighty-five  miles 
of  track,  which  it  is  expected  will  be  traversed  within  an  hour, 


228 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


including  stoppages.  The  inventor  of  this  American  monorail  sys- 
tem is  Howard  H.  Tunis,  of  Baltimore,  and  he  plans  to  run  single 
cars  for  passengers  only,  these  being  fifty  feet  long  and  five  feet  wide, 
seating  thirty-two  persons.  The  track  consists  of  ties  supporting 
a  single  rail,  such  as  is  used  on  ordinary  steam  railways,  only  it  is 
placed  in  the  centre  of  the  ties.  About  eleven  feet  above  the  ground 
is  a  superstructure  having  two  side  rails  formed  of  2  x  3  inch  angle 
irons,  within  which  run  a  set  of  wheels  attached  to  the  top  of  the 
car,  and  designed  to  maintain  the  car  in  position  on  the  lower  rail. 


The  Baltimore-Washington  Monorail  System. 

Those  interested  in  the  Tunis  system  believe  it  has  a  great 
future  for  elevated  roads,  especially  for  a  superstructure  above  an 
existing  road,  to  carry  the  express  traffic.  Its  greatest  advantage 
over  a  two-rail  system  is,  of  course,  its  ability  to  go  around  curves 
without  reducing  speed.  So  long  ago  as  1880  Captain  J.  V.  Meigs, 
of  Boston,  claimed  to  have  made  a  speed  of  over  100  miles  an 
hour  over  a  short  distance  on  a  ''  saddleback"  single-rail  experi- 
mental road ;  but  the  public  was  not  ready  for  it,  and  it  never 
came  into  use.  Similar  was  the  history  of  the  Boynton  road,  built 
experimentally  near  Coney  Island,  and  of  the  Brott  system,  pro- 
jected in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1895. 

It  is  very  doubtful  whether  a  speed  of  100  miles  an  hour  was 
ever  attained  by  a  steam  locomotive,  though  newspapers  have  pub- 
lished accounts  of  even  greater  speed  records.  The  Empire  State 
express  has  been  credited  with  a  mile  at  the  rate  of  11 2. 5  an  hour, 
but  record  miles  made  by  counting  telegraph  poles,  or  noting  mile- 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


229 


posts,  by  the  watch  of  some  one  anxious  to  make  a  record,  are 
untrustworthy,  as  shown  by  the  results  of  well-authenticated  tests. 
A  train  on  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  Railroad  was 
given  a  speed  test  some  years  ago  by  competent  officials,  making 
the  run  between  Chicago  and  Buffalo  at  an  average  speed  of  72.92 
miles  an  hour.  The  best  mile  of  the  run  was  made  at  92.3  miles 
an  hour  and  the  best  eight  miles  at  85.44.  All  this  was  accom- 
plished under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  with  a  train-load  of 
304,500  pounds.  A  similar  test  was  made  on  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  in  1903.  A  25-mile  stretch  of  track  was  cleared,  this  being 
in  exceptionally  fine  condition,  and  slightly  down  grade,  while  at 
the  lower  end  was  a  mile  of  straight  and  absolutely  level  track. 


Modern   Baldwin  Passenger  l^oconiotive. 

This  mile  was  accurately  measured,  and  electric  circuit-breakers 
placed  at  the  end  of  the  mile,  with  the  most  accurate  and  reliable 
recording  apparatus,  so  as  to  leave  no  dependence  upon  the  falli- 
bility of  some  individual.  The  down-grade  run  was  first  made  with 
eight  coaches,  then  seven,  then  six,  and  so  on,  the  speed  increasing 
as  the  coaches  were  dropped.  On  the  last  trial  the  engine  alone, 
the  best  on  the  Pennsylvania  road,  came  thundering  down  the  grade, 
with  every  ounce  of  steam  that  a  skilful  engineer  could  crowd  on, 
yet  the  best  she  could  do  was  to  cover  the  mile  on  the  level  track 
at  the  rate  of  95.1  miles  an  hour.  Until  this  record  is  beaten  by 
another  where  there  are  similar  precautions  to  secure  accuracy, 
we  are  justified  in  disbelieving  the  stories  as  to  steam  locomo- 
tives covering  more  than    100  miles   in  an  hour,   even  on  down 


230 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


grades.  The  electrically  driven  cars  can  make  higher  speeds  be- 
cause there  are  no  reciprocating  parts,  as  in  a  steam  locomotive. 
Yet  before  such  speeds  as  lOO  or  125  miles  an  hour  are  made  as 
a  matter  of  every-day  travel,  tracks  and  road-beds  w^ill  require  to 
be  rebuilt  on  much  improved  lines.  Two  of  the  worst  railway 
accidents  of  1903  happened  through  the  efforts  of  engineers  new 
to  the  roads  trying  to  make  speed  on  curves,  and  the  trains  jumping 
the  track  by  centrifugal  force.  Heavier  rails,  straighter  curves, 
and  increased  elevation  of  the  outer  track  on  curves  are  essential 
to  higher  speeds. 

The  locomotive  of  Richard  Trevithick,  of  Cornwall,  built  in 
1803,  weighed  five  tons,  and  could  pull  about  ten  tons  of  freight 
at  a  speed  of  five  miles  an  hour.  It  was  too  heavy  for  the  light 
rails  on  which  it  was  run,  and,  although  on  one  occasion  it  made 


144-T011  American  Freight  Locomotive. 

sixteen  miles  in  an  hour  running  light,  it  was  abandoned,  and 
Stevenson's  name  has  come  down  to  us  as  the  builder  of  the  first 
successful  locomotive.  Just  100  years  after  Trevithick's  effort  the 
Baldwin  works  of  Philadelphia  turned  out  a  freight  locomotive 
for  the  Atchison,  Topeka,  and  Santa  Fe  road  that  weighed  nearly 
144  tons,  being  thirty-six  feet  over  all,  exclusive  of  the  tender.  This 
is  of  the  compound  decapod  type,  having  ten  driving-wheels  and 
four  truck-wheels.  The  firebox  with  the  tubes  has  a  heating  surface 
of  nearly  5000  square  feet,  giving  enormous  steam-making  ability. 
The  drawbar  pull  or  tractive  effort  of  this  great  freight  locomotive 
is  nearly  40,000  pounds,  as  against  500  for  its  forerunner  of  100 
years  earlier. 

The  record  of  railway  development  is  an  impressive  one.  It 
began  in  America  with  the  building  of  the  "  Best  Friend,"  the  first 
American  locomotive  to  see  commercial  service.  This  was  built 
at  West  Point  in  1830,  and  used  on  the  South  Carolina  railway. 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


231 


It  was  a  four-ancl-a-half-ton  affair,  and  made  twenty  miles  an  hour 
ordinarily,  and  could  make  thirty-five  running  light.  The  Charles- 
town  and  New  Hamburg  line,  on  which  it  was  operated,  was  137 
miles  long,  and  for  many  years  the  longest  in  the  world.  It  was 
not  until  after  the  war  of  1861-5  that  any  American  railway  had 
1000  or  more  miles  of  tracks. 

About  1875  America  was  credited  with  more  than  half  the 
railway  mileage  of  the  world ;  but  we  have  built  slower  since,  and 
other  countries  faster,  so  that  of  the  something  over  half  a  million 
miles  of  steam  railway  now  operated  on  the  globe,  the  United  States 
has  but  200,000,  this  figure  not  including  second  tracks  or  sidings, 
nor  the  17,000  miles  of  electric  or  trolley  lines.  The  official  figures 
for  the  different  continents  in  1901  are:  Europe,  180,708;  Asia, 
41,814;  Africa,  14, 187;  North  America,  226,503  ;  South  America, 
33,067;  Australia,  15,649.  The  mileage  added  in  1900  was  10,- 
798,  and  in  1901  16,947,  and  with  long  lines  building  in  Asia, 
British  America,  South  America,  and  Africa,  these  figures  may  be 
exceeded  for  some  years  to  come. 

The  railways  of  the  United  States  are  capitalized  at  over 
$13,000,000,000,  half  being  in  stocks  and  half  in  bonds,  and  about 
half  of  the  stock  paying  dividends.  If  this  is  over-capitalization, 
the  condition  in  Great  Britain  is  much  worse,  for  their  roads  are 
capitalized  at  $260,000  per  mile,  which  is  more  than  four  times  our 
figure,  based  on  mileage.  However,  their  roads  are  better  pro- 
tected than  ours,  with  better  fencing,  heavier  ballast,  and  fewer  grade 
crossings.  We  kill  on  American  roads  eig"ht  yearly  where  the 
British  roads  kill  one.  The  average  Englishman  rides  four  times 
on  the  railway  where  the  American  rides  once,  but  the  American 
rides  farther.  The  United  States  has  two  and  a  half  miles  of  rail- 
way to  each  one  thousand  of  population  while  Europe  has  only  .44 
mile  to  the  same  population.  In  America  the  railway  companies 
think  much  more  of  their  freight  traffic  than  of  the  passenger  ser- 
vice, as  most  of  the  money  is  made  in  hauling  freight.  While  this 
is  also  true  in  Europe,  yet  the  proportion  there  is  more  favorable 
to  consideration  of  passengers. 

The  freight  business  of  the  railways  of  the  world  is  so  large 
as  to  make  the  figures  incomprehensible.  In  1901  the  ton-mileage 
— that  is,  the  number  of  tons  hauled  one  mile — was  147,077,136,040, 
a  figure  calculated  to  make  even  an  astronomer  gasp.  The  popular 
impression  would  be  that  the  crops  and  manufactures  furnish  the 
bulk  of  the  freight  carried,  but  such  is  not  the  case.  The  mines 
furnish  ab^ut  half,  owing  to  the  great  quantity  of  ore  hauled  in 


232 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


some  regions,  the  forests  furnish  one-eighth,  farms  one-ninth,  and 
factories  but  one-seventh. 

The  railways  of  the  United  States  have  in  use  25,000,000  tons 
of  steel  rails,  if  solidified  into  a  mass  they  would  exceed  in  dimen- 
sions the  Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt,  while  the  wooden  ties  would 
equal  twenty-four  pyramids,  and  the  ballast  135  more.  There  are 
now  (1904)  40,000  locomotives  in  use  on  American  railways,  and 


Courtesy  Goodwin  Car  Company. 


Ballasting  a  Railway  Embankment. 


almost  as  many  passenger,  mail,  and  baggage  cars,  while  the  freight 
cars  total  one  and  a  half  million,  and  if  arranged  in  lines  between 
New  York  and  San  Francisco  would  cover  the  distance  six  times. 
The  employees  required  to  operate  these  number  about  1,100,000, 
of  whom  over  forty  per  cent,  are  trackmen  and  laborers. 

The  American  custom  is  to  use  about  one-fourth  more  ties 
in  track-laying  than  is  the  rule  in  Great  Britain  and  Europe.  This 
may  be  partly  owing  to  our  heavier  freights.     On  the  other  hand. 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


^ZZ 


foreign  roads  are  better  ballasted  and  fenced  in  to  a  degree  un- 
known here.  The  British  practice  is  to  place  a  cast-iron  block, 
called  a  chair,  between  the  rails  and  the  ties.  This  is  necessary  owing 
to  the  softer  wood  used  for  ties,  as  the  chairs  secure  a  larger  bearing 
surface  on  the  wood.  Overhead  bridges  at  stations  are  compulsory 
in  many  other  countries,  even  for  small  stations.  The  automatic 
block  signals  used  here  are  considered  superior  to  signalling  sys- 
tems of  Europe,  and  are  likely  to  come  into  use  over  there. 

We  often  hear  of  express  trains  running  sixty  miles  an  hour, 
as  though  this  were  a  common  thing  in  railroading.  The  fact  is 
that  the   fastest  regular  long-distance  train   in   the   world   makes 


Diagram  showing  Common  Arrangement  of  Cylinders  in  a  Compound  Locomotive. 

an  average  sped  of  54.2  miles  an  hour.  This  is  on  the  Orleans  and 
the  Midi  railways  from  Paris  to  Bayonne,  the  run  being  48634 
miles,  on  lines  not  free  from  heavy  grades  and  curves.  The  loco- 
motives employed  are  compounded,  that  is,  have  two  high-  and 
two  low-pressure  cylinders,  a  heating  surface  of  1890  square  feet, 
and  a  weight  of  fifty-four  tons.  The  weight  seems  very  small  from 
an  American  view-point,  but  the  steam  pressure  is  high,  being  213 
pounds.  The  law  limits  the  speed  to  74.5  miles  an  hour,  which  is 
about  ten  miles  less  than  these  locomotives  can  make  under  favor- 
able circumstances. 

The  fastest  long-distance  expresses  in  the  United  States  are 
the  twenty-hour  limiteds  of  the  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  Cen- 
tral roads,  run  from  New  York  to  Chicago.     The  distance  in  each 


'-34 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


case  being  980  miles,  the  average  speed,  it  will  be  noted,  is  a  trifle 
under  fifty  miles  an  hour.  The  trains  are  much  heavier  than  those 
on  the  Orleans  road,  probably  averaging  nearly  twice  the  weight, 
while  the  locomotixes  weigh  140  tons  or  more,  or  nearly  three  times 
the  weight  of  the  French  engines.  The  American  practice  is  to 
change  the  locomoti^"es  several  times  during  each  trip,  giving  each 
machine  an  average  run  of  only  163  miles. 

In  making  these  fast  regular  runs,  both  the  European  and 
American  locomoti\'es  are  run  at  times  at  speeds  up  to  about  seventy- 
five  miles  an  hour,  as  on  almost  every  trip  it  is  necessary  to  speed  up 
somewhere  to  make  up  for  delays  at  other  points.  Then  the  time 
of  the  stops  has  to  be  made  up,  as  well  as  the  slow-downs  for  curves. 
The  loss  of  time  on  curves  is  not  fully  appreciable  to  the  uninitiated. 
The  train-wheels  are  constantly  pushing  against  the  outer  side  of 
the  curve,  causing  enormous  friction,  and  reducing  the  speed.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  every  degree  of  curvature  is  equally  as  hard 
for  the  train  to  overcome  as  a  three  per  cent,  rise  in  the  grade,  if 
the  train  be  running  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  With  an  express  run- 
ning sixty  miles  an  hour  it  is  much  greater,  how  much  nobody 
knows  exactly. 

For  the  comfort  of  the  traveller  by  rail  there  seems  to  be  no 
end  of  invention  and  improvements.  One  of  these,  just  coming 
into  use,  for  both  electric  and  steam  roads,  is  the  convertible  car, 
open  in  summer  and  closed  in  wdnter. 

Within  a  few  years  there  has  been  a  marked  increase  in  railway 
projects  and  railroad  building  for  the  purpose  of  developing  vast 
regions  not  before  open  to  trade.  First  came  the  great  trans- 
Siberian  railw^ay,  constructed  by  the  Russians  to  give  them  a  gate- 
way to  China  and  the  Pacific.  This  has  stimulated  an  American 
syndicate  to  make  overtures  to  Russia  for  a  franchise  to  connect 
Vladivostock  with  Cape  Naniamo  at  Bering  Strait,  with  a  view 
to  tunnelling  the  strait,  and  connecting  with  a  projected  line  run- 
ning through  the  Yukon  territory  to  Canada  and  the  United  States. 
If  these  plans  are  carried  out,  there  will  be  an  all-rail  route  between 
the  United  States  and  Europe,  and  the  time  of  a  trip  around  the 
globe  may  be  materially  reduced. 

A  South  American  line  is  contemplated,  which  shall  connect 
New  York  with  Buenos  Ayres.  There  is  now  in  course  of  con- 
struction a  transcontinental  line  from  Rio  Janeiro  to  Chile,  and  the 
Brazilian  government  is  undertaking  several  minor  railways.  Thus 
is  South  America  being  opened  up  to  trade. 

The  trans-Siberian  railway,  which  has  been  building  since  1892, 


The   Brill  Convertible  Car. 


236  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

and  which  was  not  fully  completed  at  the  beginning  of  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war,  has  been  much  discussed.  It  will  be  the  longest  rail- 
way on  the  globe,  extending  over  a  stretch  of  4740  miles.  This 
tremendous  undertaking  will  cost  about  $200,000,000,  which  seems 
a  very  small  sum  considering  the  length  of  the  route.  It  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  however,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  road  is  built  for 
light  traffic,  with  light  rails  and  ties.  There  is  no  such  heavv  traffic 
as  Americans  are  familiar  with ;  before  the  war  trains  left  Moscow 
for  Irkutsch  twice  a  week,  and  required  nine  days  for  a  trip.  What 
are  known  as  trains  de  luxe,  but  which  we  in  America  would  call 
a  train  of  parlor-cars,  were  run  once  in  ten  days.  The  passenger 
cars  are  of  good  size  and  well  lighted  with  electricity.  One  of  the 
most  difficult  portions  of  the  route  is  the  crossing  of  Lake  Baikal, 
which  is  frozen  over  during  several  months  of  the  year.  This  lake 
is  forty  miles  across,  and  steamer  transportation  is  now  employed, 
though  a  rail  line  is  being  laid  around  the  lake  a  distance  of  several 
hundred  miles.  The  boats  used  for  crossing  are  patterned  after 
the  American  ice-breaking  boats  used  on  Lake  Michigan,  and  have 
three  powerful  screws,  w'hich  enable  them  to  cut  through  three  and 
a  half  feet  of  ice  at  a  speed  of  three  knots  an  hour. 

One  of  the  Manchurian  branches  of  the  trans-Siberian  road 
runs  south  to  Port  Arthur,  there  connecting  with  the  new  railways 
that  are  building  in  China.  The  first  railway  in  the  Flowery  King- 
dom was  built  in  1876  with  British  capital.  It  ran  from  Shanghai 
to  Woosung,  but  has  been  gradually  extended  until  it  is  now  a 
300-mile  line  from  Peking  to  Port  Arthur.  The  most  important 
of  the  present  railways  of  China  is  the  Luh  Han  railway,  controlled 
by  a  Belgian  syndicate  and  joining  Peking  with  Hankow.  The 
latter  is  a  great  city  at  the  junction  of  the  Han  River  and  Yang-tse- 
Kiang,  and  this  railway  forms  a  natural  northern  trunk  line  for 
China.  The  principal  railway  projected  south  of  the  Yang-tse- 
Kiang  is  the  Yeun  Han  railway,  connecting  Wuchang  with  Canton. 
When  this  is  completed  there  will  be  a  through  rail  line  from  Hong- 
kong, by  way  of  Hankow,  to  Calais,  Peking,  and  (by  Port  Arthur 
to  Irkutsch),  to  Moscow  and  Europe. 

Among  the  numerous  minor  railways  projected  in  China  is 
one  from  Canton  to  Samshuy,  which  is  being  built  by  the  y\merican- 
China  Development  Company  with  American  capital.  Canton  has 
about  the  same  population  as  New  York  City,  and  this  company, 
whose  field  of  work  is  commercial  development  in  this  thickly  popu- 
lated region,  has  laid  out  a  railway  about  750  miles  long,  that  is 
to  be  completed  in  1906.     This  will  probably  be  the  best-built  rail- 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


^17 


way  in  China,  as  steel  bridges  and  cement  piers  and  abutments  are 
being  used  throughout ;  while  thirty-foot  rails  weighing  twenty-five 
pounds  to  the  foot  are  being  laid,  and  ballasted  to  a  depth  of  sixteen 
inches  with  broken  stone.  All  the  rolling  stock  is  of  American  make 
and  the  locomotives  used  are  to  be  of  130  tons;  the  signalling  sys- 
tem is  also  to  be  patterned  after  that  used  on  American  roads. 


't'.^^" 


Railway  Tunnel  and  Embankment,  Tomasopa  Canon,  Mexico. 

In  Africa  enormous  railway  projects  are  coming  into  being, 
and  Cecil  Rhodes's  dream  of  railways  clear  across  the  dark  conti- 
nent will  be  realized  before  long.  France,  which  holds  possessions 
in  Algiers,  extending  over  the  Sahara  to  the  Ivory  Coast  and  the 
French  Kongo,  is  seriously  contemplating  the  construction  of  a 
railway  across  the  arid  desert  to  connect  these  countries.  The  main 
line  is  to  run  from  Biskra  to  Lake  Tchad,  a  distance  of  about  two 
thousand  miles.  At  the  same  time  the  British  in  South  Africa  are 
displaying  tremendous  energy  in  railway  building.  The  Biera- 
Salisbury  line  has  been  extended  southward  to  join  the  railway  at 
Bulawayo ;  from  thence  a  line  has  been  run  to  the  Wankie  coal- 
beds,  crossing  the  Zambesi  at  Victoria  Falls.  The  line  is  run  thence 
northward  to  the  Kongo  border,  and  via  Katanga  to  Lake  Kasali, 
which  is  a  thousand  miles  from  Bulawayo.     In  order  to  supply  the 


238 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


missing  link  between  the  Egyptian  railway  and  this  South  African 
hne,  a  road  is  projected  from  Stanley  Falls  on  the  Upper  Kongo  to 
Mahagi  on  Lake  Albert  Nyanza.  The  consummation  of  these  plans 
means  an  all-rail  route  from  Cairo  to  Cape  Town,  and  there  is 
no  reasonable  room  for  doubt  that  they  will  be  carried  out,  as  the 
needed  concessions  have  been  obtained  from  both  Great  Britain  and 
Belgium,  which  control  the  territory,  and  the  work  of  building  is 
progressing  with  great  rapidity. 

The  development  of  railway  lines  in  South  Africa  was  seriously 


Courtesy  Scientihc  American. 


Constructing  an  Elevated  Railway. 


hindered  by  the  Boer  War,  but  tliere  is  now  strong  activity  mani- 
fested in  the  projecting  and  building  of  new  lines.  Up  to  1902 
about  a  thousand  miles  of  railway  had  been  built  in  the  Transvaal 
and  adjoining  territory.  The  most  important  of  these  lines  was 
the  eastern  line  from  Pretoria  to  Komati  Poort,  which  is  295  miles 
in  length;  the  main  line  from  Pretoria  to  Pietersburg,  178  miles 
in  length ;  the  Southeastern  line  from  Elsburg  to  the  Natal  Fron- 
tier, 160  miles  in  length;  and  the  Southwestern  line  from  Johannes- 
burg to  Klerksdorp,  a  distance  of  117  miles.  These  roads  are,  as 
a  rule,  very  well  built,  as  the  substantial  bridges,  piers,  and  em- 
bankments attest. 


THE    IRON    HORSE   AND    THE    RAILWAYS  239 

The  British  Government  has  in  construction  and  approaching- 
completion  a  railway  from  Johannesburg  to  Vereeniging,  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty-four  miles,  which  is  to  cost  $35,000  per  mile.  Con- 
cessions have  been  obtained  or  projects  are  on  foot  for  nearly  a 
thousand  miles  of  other  railways  in  South  Africa,  the  longest  being 
a  line  from  Klerksdorp  to  Fourteen  Streams,  which  will  form  a 
direct  route  to  Cape  Tow^n  and  the  western  provinces. 

The  Cape  railway  service  w^as  improved  by  the  addition  of  a 
train  de  luxe,  which  was  shipped  to  Africa  from  England  in  Oc- 
tober, 1 90 1.  This  train  comprised  six  coaches,  each  fifty-six  feet 
in  length,  and  included  all  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  to  be  found 
on  the  best  Pullman  cars  in  America  or  Europe.  There  is  a  dining- 
saloon,  library,  buffet,  smoker,  card-room,  observation  platform, 
kitchen  and  pantry,  and  arrangements  for  converting  several  of  the 
coaches  into  either  day  parlor-cars  or  sleepers. 

In  addition  to  the  above.  Natal  owned  518  miles  of  railway- 
costing  nearly  $40,000  per  mile,  in  1902,  which  has  doubtless  been 
considerably  increased  at  the  present  date.  At  the  close  of  1899  the 
Cape  Government  system  of  railways  reported  a  total  operating 
mileage  of  1990,  built  at  a  cost  a  little  exceeding  $1,000,000. 

In  Australia  the  extension  of  railways  meets  with  consider- 
able retardation  because  of  the  different  gauges  (or  distance  be- 
tween rails)  employed  by  the  existing  lines.  However,  efforts  are 
on  foot  to  standardize  the  gauge,  and  build  a  1000-mile  line,  at  an 
expense  of  $7,500,000,  from  Kalgoorlie  in  the  Westralian  gold- 
fields  to  Port  Augusta,  which  is  now  the  western  terminus  of  the 
South  Australian  system.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  railways  are  first 
in  demand  for  transporting  ore  and  thus  opening  up  the  mineral 
wealth  of  the  territory;  later  for  carrying  timber  and  agricultural 
and  manufacturing  products. 

The  cradle  of  history,  the  land  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  is  also 
opening  up  to  the  civilization  of  the  locomotive.  A  German  com- 
pany is  constructing  what  is  known  as  the  Bagdad  railway,  which 
is  to  form  part  of  a  system  connecting  Europe  with  India.  The 
present  line  crosses  x\siatic  Turkey,  uniting  the  Bosphorus  with 
Persia.  One  branch  is  to  go  to  Konia,  the  holy  city  of  Asia  Minor, 
another  branch  to  Angora.  The  Bagdad  line  runs  from  Angora, 
along  the  Tigris,  past  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh,  through  Bag- 
dad. The  Euphrates  is  crossed  at  the  ruins  of  Babylon,  and  thence 
the  road  is  projected  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  stopping  at  Mohamera. 

The  railways  of  India  now  reach  to  the  limits  of  British 
territory  in  three  main  lines,  one  of  which  extends  into  Indo-China, 


240 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


and  in  1902  the  first  trains  were  run  from  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the 
Pamirs,  across  the  desert  sands  of  Turkestan. 

Thus  is  the  Old  World  emulating  the  New,  and  ere  the  first  ten 
years  of  the  century  have  been  swept  into  oblivion,  all  the  old  con- 
tinents will  have  been  opened  up  to  civilizing  trade,  just  as  the 
great  West  of  the  United  States  was  opened  up  by  the  Union  Pacific 
road.     There  is  no  civilizer  like  the  railway.     It  means  cheap  trans- 


I^^^^^BI^^Hi^^L-  '^^^ 

C'*^^S5^»^                        '':;:*^'»s. 

h^ 

\ 

<< 

\  < 
>> 

<  < 

Goodwin  Self -Dumping  Cars  Unloading  on  a  Trestle. 

portation,  and  this  means  an  exchange  of  goods,  and  wider  inter- 
course, and  mixing  of  peoples,  by  which  all  may  profit. 

For  the  great  cities  of  the  world  the  railway  is  doing  as  much 
as  for  the  corners  of  the  earth.  In  New  York  we  have  the  Rapid 
Transit  Subway,  built  at  a  cost  of  $35,000,000,  to  give  additional 
facilities  for  up  and  down  town  travel  in  the  metropolis.  Man- 
hattan Island  is  tunnelled  from  South  Ferry  to  the  Harlem  River, 
and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  time  when  Borough  Hall  in  Brooklyn 


THE    IRON    HORSE   AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


241 


shall  be  joined  to  the  system  by  a  tunnel  under  East  River.  The 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  has  brought  its  terminal  directly  into  the 
heart  of  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  coming  in  by  tunnels  from  New 
Jersey  and  going  out  by  tunnels  to  Long  Island.  The  company  is 
probably  spending  as  many  millions  on  these  improvements  as  have 
been  spent  on  the  subway.  Not  to  be  left  behind  in  the  march  of 
progress,  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  is  altering  and  improving 
its  terminal  facilities  at  the  Grand  Central  station  on  an  enormous 
scale,  and  this  terminus,  together  with  the  Pennsylvania's  terminal 
stations  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  and  the  Boston  terminal 
station,  must  be  classed  as  the  finest  of  the  sort  in  the  world. 


Elevated  Electric  Railway  at  iioth  Street,  New  Vork. 


The  electrification  of  the  elevated  roads  of  Greater  New  York, 
though  interfering  somewhat  with  the  service  at  the  time  of  change 
and  while  the  machinery  was  being  smoothed  up,  has  proven  a  great 
advantage  in  ridding  the  city  streets  of  the  smoke-producing  loco- 
motive. Why  the  authorities  did  not  insist  on  the  covering  of  the 
third  rail,  permitting  the  power  to  be  taken  from  the  side,  is  a 
mystery  to  the  writer.  There  is  nothing  very  difficult  mechanically 
about  such  an  arrangement,  and  it  would  have  been  a  great  pro- 
tection to  life,  as,  though  elevated,  the  charged  rail  is  so  placed  that 
a  greater  or  less  number  of  persons  are  sure  to  fall  upon  it.  But 
this  is  in  keeping  with  the  American  custom  of  saving  money  in 
railway  equipments  at  the  expense  of  human  lives,  and  not  even 
the  large  damage  verdicts  rendered  by  juries  against  the  companies 

t6 


242 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


after  every  fatality  seem  to  have  much  influence  in  correcting  the 
evil.  We  need  the  sort  of  leg-islation  that  prevails  in  Great  Britain 
before  our  railways  will  cease  to  kill  and  maim. 

The  London  underground  railways  are  being  supplied  with  elec- 
tric motive  power,  the  new  trains  being  very  similar  to  those  of  the 
Boston  elevated  railway.  Positive  and  negative  rails  are  employed, 
and  whether  the  system  is  safer  for  the  public  than  the  third  rail 
system  of  New  York  remains  to  be  demonstrated.  In  making  up 
trains,  motor-cars  and  trailers  are  run  alternately,  as  in  New  York 
and  Boston. 

An  invention  that  may  serve  to  hasten  the  electrification  of 
steam  roads  is  that  of  E.  W.  Farnham,  former  superintendent  of 
the  Burlington  Railroad,  near  Chicago.  He  has  developed  a  system 
in  which  the  third  rail  carrying  the  electric  current  is  "  dead"  at 
all  points  except  alongside  the  trains  using  it.  Contradictory  as 
this  appears,  it  has  been  thoroughly  demonstrated,  and,  of  course, 
eliminates  the  deadly  characteristics  of  the  third  rail  with  its  heavy 
charge  of  electric  current.     It  is  also  claimed  that  this  deadening 


I  incu  Su^pijiiilnl   Railway,  shov 


of  the  feeding  rail  saves  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  power  required  to 
operate  a  system,  and  that  there  are  various  other  economies.  If 
this  invention  can  be  reduced  to  commercial  practice,  it  should 
supersede  the  overhead  trolley  and  the  present  "  third-rail"  systems. 


THE    IRON    HORSE   AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


243 


In  1902  experiments  were  made  for  the  New  York  Central  road 
with  electric  and  steam  trains  of  various  lengths,  to  demonstrate 
their  relative  efficiency  for  short-distance  work,  as  for  handling  the 
traffic  in  the  New  York  City  tunnels.  The  locomotive  used  was  one 
specially  designed  for  handling  suburban  traffic,  the  best  that  could 
be  bought.  Two  motor  cars  were  used  in  the  electric  train,  of  a 
total  weight  of  J^y^.  tons,  and  of  nearly  the  same  capacity  as  the 
locomotive.  The  drawbar  pull  or  starting  effort  of  the  two  trains 
was  the  same,  but  the  results  figured  up  in  every  instance  in  favor 
of  the  electric  train,  as  shown  in  the  following  table: 


Miles  per  Hour  attained  in  Ten  Seconds. 


Number  of  trailers 

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

22.5 
14 

20.7 
13 

17-3 
12.5 

14.4 
12 

12.6 
10 

II. 2 

Steam  train 

9-7 

Miles  per  Hour  attained  in  Twenty  Seconds. 


Number  of  trailers 

I     ■ 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

34 
25 

32-3 
21.2 

29.4 
21.5 

27.4 
19-5 

24-5 
18 

16.3 

Miles  per  Hour  attained  in  Thirty  Seconds. 


Number  of  trailers     

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Electric  train 

38.2 
31-7 

36-4 
26.2 

34-2 
27.2 

32.4 
24.7 

30-3 
23.2 

28.1 
20.8 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  locomotive  came  nearest  the  electric 
train  when  pulling  the  longest  train  of  six  cars  for  the  shortest  time 
— ten  seconds;  yet  even  here  it  was  far  enough  behind  to  warrant 
its  displacement  in  favor  of  the  electric  train.  A  curious  fact  was 
that  the  electric  trains  consumed  less  power  in  making  the  same 
distance  than  the  steam  trains,  and  that  when  the  power  was  shut 
off  at  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  starting-point,  as  it  was 
in  all  the  tests,  the  electric  train  was  brought  to  a  stop  in  half  the 
distance  required  to  stop  the  steam  train.  This  was  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that  the  electric  trains  did  not  attain  as  great  speeds  as 
the  steam  trains  at  the  point  where  the  power  was  shut  off.  The 
electric  trains  made  greater  speeds  for  the  total  distance  because 
they  started  so  much  quicker.  Several  years  ago  it  was  determined, 
by  those  handling  the  trains  at  the  New  York  end  of  the  Brooklyn 
bridge,  that  the  trains  could  be  shifted  to  another  track  and  reversed 
much  more  quickly  by  electric  power  than  by  steam,  and  electricity 
has  been  in  use  there  ever  since. 


244 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


One  of  the  most  remarkable  railways  in  the  world  is  the 
Langen  suspended  railw^ay  at  Barmen,  Germany.  It  is  elevated  in 
more  senses  than  one,  as  the  rails  are  above  the  cars.  A  structure 
of  girders  rises  nearly  forty  feet  above  the  ground  level,  being  sup- 
ported by  great  A-shaped  frames  at  intervals,  or  sometimes  frames 
of  inverted   U   shape.      The  rails   are  set   in   this   structure  some 


Barmen  Suspended  Railway. 


twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  from  the  ground,  and  the  cars  are  hung 
below  them,  suspended  in  mid-air.  They  go  skimming  along  by 
electric  power,  making  the  nine-mile  run  from  Vohwinkel  to  Bar- 
men in  half  an  hour,  notwithstanding  there  are  eighteen  stops. 

The  arrangement  of  the  supports  and  girders  will  be  more 
readily  understood   from  the  illustrations  than   from  any  written 


THE   IRON    HORSE   AND    THE    RAILWAYS  245 

description.  The  motive  power  is  electricity,  applied  direct  to  the 
two  wheels,  which  are  thirty  inches  in  diameter,  and  set  twenty- 
five  feet  apart,  so  as  to  run  tandem  on  a  steel  rail.  The  wheels 
have  flanges  on  both  sides,  to  prevent  their  running  off  the  track, 
but  even  if  they  did  jump  the  rail,  the  car  cannot  fall,  because  its 
upper  structure  is  so  hooked  around  the  girders  that  they  cannot 
be  separated  unless  the  whole  structure  tumbles  down.  Swinging 
or  rocking  of  the  cars,  as  the  passengers  get  on  or  off  at  stations,  is 
prevented  by  a  spring  rest  that  bears  against  the  edge  of  the  station 
platform. 

An  automatic  block  system  of  operating  the  trains  is  employed, 
this  being  worked  by  the  passage  of  the  cars,  and  permitting  them 
to  run  under  only  two  minutes'  headway.  The  cost  of  constructing 
the  road  was  about  $215,000  per  mile,  or  rather  more  than  the 
ordinary  form  of  elevated  road,  and  very  much  more  than  the  sur- 
face road.  What  induced  the  engineers  to  plan  such  a  railway  is 
a  puzzle ;  it  may  be  that  the  ground  over  which  it  travelled  was  of 
such  uneven  character  that  this  system  was  as  cheap  as  any  that 
could  have  been  devised ;  anyway,  there  must  have  been  some 
reasons  not  apparent  superficially. 

Mountain  railways  are  wholly  siti  generis.  Sylvester  Marsh, 
an  American,  taught  the  world  how  to  build  them,  constructing  the 
first  up  Mount  Washington,  which  was  completed  in  1869,  at  an 
expense  of  $150,000.  The  mountain  is  the  highest  in  America 
east  of  the  Rockies,  its  summit  being  a  mile  plus  more  than  a  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  sea-level.  To  reach  this  elevation.  Marsh  had 
to  find  means  to  drive  a  locomotive  up  a  grade  of  one  foot  rise  in 
an  advance  of  2.67  feet.  This  he  accomplished  with  the  cog-rail, 
which  enabled  the  locomotive  to  take  a  firm  grip  by  means  of 
toothed  wheels.  By  reducing  the  speed  greater  power  was  obtained, 
and  Marsh  made  the  ascent  without  serious  difficulty.  Swiss  and 
German  engineers  came  over  to  see  Mount  Washington  railway,  and 
it  was  soon  imitated  at  Mount  Riga  and  elsewhere  in  Europe. 

The  Pike's  Peak  railway,  completed  in  1890,  is  longer,  but  has 
not  such  severe  grades  as  the  foregoing,  one  foot  in  four  being  the 
steepest;  its  length  is  nearly  eight  miles.  The  summit  is  over 
14,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and  bears  the  highest  observatory 
of  the  Weather  Bureau.  The  cog-rails  used  on  this  line  are  very 
heavy  pieces  of  steel,  less  than  seven  feet  in  length.  The  locomo- 
tives used  on  this  and  other  American  mountain  lines,  as  now  made, 
have  boilers  set  about  eighteen  inches  higher  at  the  rear  than  the 
front,  so  as  to  render  them  level  on  an  average  grade.    The  driving 


246 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


shafts  and  gear  are  made  in  duplicate  to  avoid  danger  from  accident. 
The  crank-shaft  turns  around  four  times  to  one  revolution  of  the 
driving  axle.  The  driving  axle  bears  a  very  heavy  cog-wheel,  two 
feet  in  diameter,  that  meshes  with  the  cog-rail. 

If  the  European  builders  of  mountain  railways  came  after  ours, 
they  have  made  up  by  building  more  of  them  and  over  steeper  routes. 
The  steepest  in  the  world  is  the  Pilatus,  in  the  Alps,  which  has  a 
grade  in  one  section  that  ascends  forty-eight  feet  for  every  one 


On  Uie  I'lke's  Peak  Railway. 

hundred  of  advance.  A  steel  wire  cable  is  used  on  this  road,  as 
also  on  another  very  steep  road,  near  Lucerne,  Switzerland.  The 
latter  uses  electric  driving  power,  and  dispenses  with  the  cog-rail, 
being  therefore  almost  as  much  like  an  elevator  as  a  railroad. 

An  idea  of  the  locomotive  business  of  the  United  States  may 
be  gathered  from  the  census  figures  of  1900.  During  that  year 
3046  locomotives  were  built  in  fifty-four  shops,  nearly  one-half  of 
them  coming  from  Pennsylvania.  A  little  over  one-sixth  of  these 
were  exported.  Their  average  cost  was  almost  exactly  $10,000  each, 
which  was  an  increase  over  previous  years,  owing  to  the  fact  that 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND     THE    RAILWAYS 


247 


the  average  locomotive  grows  larger  every  year,  so  to  speak.  In 
1890  the  average  weight  of  those  built  was  about  92,000  pounds; 
in  1900  it  was  129,000,  and  in  1904  it  is  estimated  as  138,000. 
The  construction  of  locomotives  has  been  steadily  improved,  by 
compounding  the  cylinders,  increasing  the  heating  surface,  etc., 
and  cost  kept  down  by  constructing  the  driving-wheel  centres,  main 
frames,  and  sundry  other  parts  of  cast  steel  instead  of  wrought  iron, 
as  formerly.     About   150  electric  locomotives  were  built  in   1900 


A  Compressed-Air  Mine  Locomotive. 

for  use  in  mines,  also  a  number  of  compressed-air  locomotives  for 
the  same  purpose.  One  of  the  latter  is  here  illustrated.  It  has  a  sort 
of  beheaded  appearance,  having  no  smoke-stack.  The  storage  tank 
is  filled  with  air,  which  may  be  compressed  to  a  pressure  as  great 
as  1000  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  or  in  a  few  extreme  cases  more 
than  double  that  pressure.  It  is  not  used  at  this  pressure,  however, 
being  valved  to  a  low-pressure  reservoir  from  which  the  air  can  be 
supplied  to  the  driving-cylinders  at  a  uniform  working-pressure. 

In  1876  the  average  freight  car  on  United  States  railways  had 
a  capacity  of  forty  tons;  in  1885,  sixty  tons  was  reported  as  the 
average;  in  1895  the  cars  built  averaged  about  seventy  tons;  in 
1899  the  figure  had  grown  to  eighty  tons ;  while  to-day  pressed-steel 
cars  of  one  hundred  tons  capacity  are  being  turned  out  at  an  enor- 
mous rate.  Although  the  pressed-steel  car  industry  only  started  in 
1897,  so  quick  are  the  railways  to  adopt  something  in  the  line  of 
economy  that  in  1901  it  was  reported  that  more  steel  was  required 
for  making  cars  than  for  any  other  purpose.  The  Pittsburg 
Pressed  Steel  Car  Company's  standard  coal  car  is  shown  in  the 
illustration. 

Why  steel  cars  were  not  thought  of  sooner  is  a  mystery.  The 
steel  has  a  theoretical  advantage  over  wood  at  the  start,  as  the 
amount  of  metal  required  as  compared  with  wood  is  about  ten  or 
twelve  per  cent,  less  in  weight  for  the  same  strength.  Farther,  it 
is  thought  to  be  three  times  as  durable,  reducing  the  cost  of  repairs 
about  seventy-five  per  cent.     Some  steel  cars  built  as  an  experiment 


248  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

for  the  Western  Railway  of  France  in  1869  were  reported  as  still 
in  good  condition  in  1897.  When  the  railroads  began  to  use  them, 
other  advantages  speedily  developed.  The  "  dead  load,"  of  cars 
that  has  to  be  hauled,  is  reduced  from  one-third  of  the  weight  of 
the  train  to  one-fourth,  and  this  saving  counts  not  only  in  hauling 
a  load,  but  in  hauling  back  "  empties."     A  train  of  the  same  capa- 


A  Pittsburg  Pressed-Steel  Car. 

city  is  shorter,  requires  less  switching,  and  will  go  on  a  shorter 
siding.  A  report  made  on  the  American  pressed-steel  cars  at  the 
International  Railroad  Congress  in  Paris,  in  1900,  showed  that 
while  the  net  earnings  of  an  average  wooden  car  were  $69  a  year 
the  steel  car  earned  $163.50. 

In  building  steel  cars,  what  is  known  as  medium-soft  Carnegie 
steel  is  employed,  of  a  strength  of  60,000  pounds  to  the  square 
inch.  The  stock  comes  from  the  rolling-mill  in  the  form  of  large 
plates,  and  is  first  sheared  to  size,  and  then  pressed.  The  larger 
pieces  that  require  but  slight  forming  are  pressed  cold  by  great 
hydraulic  machines;  the  smaller  pieces  that  are  more  or  less  com- 
plicated in  form  are  heated  to  a  cherry-red  and  then  light-pressed. 
The  work  is  continued  in  the  drilling  and  riveting  department, 
where  special  machines  make  the  holes  and  fit  the  parts  with  very 
little  hand  labor.  They  are  put  together  in  the  erecting  department, 
where  some  hand  riveting  is  essential.  Pressed-steel  bolsters  for 
the  trucks  are  now  commonly  supplied,  so  that  the  cars  are  literally 
of  steel  all  through. 

The  cost  of  building  railway  lines  has  been  greatly  reduced 
within  a  few  years.  The  improvements  in  excavating  machinery 
and  in  methods  of  filling  in  have  been  marked.  Dynamite  is  used 
to  break  up  the  rocks,  and  giant  steam-shovels  pick  up  the  broken 
stone,  gravel,  and  sand  and  dump  it  all  on  flat-cars,  to  be  unloaded 
at  some  other  point  for  building  up  the  roadway.  The  latest  un- 
loading machine,  which  is  a  marvel  of  economy,  is  described  in 
another  chapter. 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND    THE    RAILWAYS 


249 


When  it  comes  to  track-laying  there  is  now  a  machine  for 
doing  all  the  heavy  work,  saving  handling,  and  capable  of  laying 
in  place  the  ties  and  rails  for  two  miles  of  track  in  a  single  day! 
This  mechanism  was  devised  by  R.  E.  Hurley,  of  Scranton,  Pa. 
The  construction  train  consists  normally  of  sixteen  cars  loaded  with 
rails,  ties,  etc.,  hauled  by  a  machine  car  that  is  part  locomotive. 
This  machine  car  has  a  trussed  derrick  with  a  sixty-foot  extension 
that  projects  out  over  the  track  as  desired.  A  car  containing  a 
boiler,  fuel,  and  water  is  also  included  in  the  train. 


1  I    U  k    I     |S(.> 


The  sixteen  cars  are  provided  with  rollers  on  which  the  rails 
rest.  Men  on  the  cars  loosely  bolt  the  rails  together  in  parallel 
lines,  and  these  strings  of  rails  are  pulled  forward  by  the  machine 
car.  The  proper  number  of  ties  are  laid  on  top  of  the  rails  as  they 
roll  along  to  the  machine  car.  Arriving  there  a  mechanism  picks 
ofif  the  ties  and  carries  them  ahead,  dumping  them  a  little  more 
than  a  rail-length  in  advance  of  the  working  point,  so  that  laborers 
have  time  to  adjust  them  before  the  rails  come  along.  As  the  rails 
arrive  at  the  front,  they  are  unbolted  from  the  line  and  swung  into 
place,  men  on  the  ground  guiding  them  to  position.  When  a  rail 
is  in  place  a  man  bolts  it  quickly,  and  the  train  runs  forward  as 
soon  as  a  pair  of  rails  are  laid  in  advance,  when  the  next  pair  are 
laid  in  the  same  manner.  The  machinery  is  so  geared  as  to  move 
forward  the  line  of  rails  and  ties  the  same  distance  that  the  train 
advances,  so  that  the  proper  material  comes  to  the  right  place  with 
every  advance.  Only  forty  men  are  required  with  this  outfit  to 
lay  track  at  the  rate  of  more  than  a  thousand  feet  an  hour. 


250 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Almost  as  ingenious  as  this  method  of  track-laying  is  the 
Lidgerwood  system  of  shifting  a  railway  track.  The  old  method 
was  to  employ  a  gang  of  laborers  with  crowbars,  who  unbolted  the 
rails  at  intervals,  and  worked  them  to  one  side  at  great  expenditure 
of  physical  strength.  The  new  method,  which  is  practised  for  tem- 
porary tracks  used  in  construction  or  cutting  away  of  sand-banks, 
etc.,  consists  in  simply  hauling  a  long  section  of  track  bodily  by 
means  of  a  steel  cable  and  locomotive.  The  line  of  rails  and  ties 
being  first  loosened  from  its  moorings,  a  flat-car  bearing  a  winding 
drum  for  wire  cable  is  firmly  anchored  to  one  side.  One  end  of 
the  cable  is  attached  to  the  track,  a  few  turns  are  taken  around  the 


Throwing  a  Railway  Track. 

drum,  and  the  locomotive,  which  has  been  made  fast  to  the  other 
end,  is  started  up  gently.  If  everything  has  been  properly  adjusted, 
the  track  comes  over  where  it  is  wanted, — that  is,  a  part  of  it 
does, — and  the  locomotive  and  flat-car  are  moved  along  to  attack 
another  portion,  and  so  on  until  the  whole  track  is  moved  to  where 
it  is  wanted.    The  Raihvay  Review  says  of  this  system : 

"  To  throw  a  mile  of  track  laterally  and  to  a  lower  grade  by  hand  labor 
requires  the  services  of  a  large  gang  of  men  for  a  whole  day,  and  the  average 
expense  on  this  road  has  been  about  $175  per  mile.  By  using  the  unloader  the 
track  can  be  shifted  to  place  at  a  cost  of  about  $43  per  mile,  the  ordinary  distance 
being  15  feet  laterally  and  an  average  of  10  feet  vertically.  The  time  required  to 
do  the  work  in  this  manner  averages  7K  hours.  The  expense  stated  covers  the 
use  of  the  unloader,  locomotive,  and  crew,  four  laborers  and  one  foreman. 

"  When  one  side  of  the  cut  has  been  excavated,  the  old  track  is  thrown  down 
to  the  lower  level  to  be  used  for  a  loading-track  in  excavating  the  other  side  of 
the  cut  and  a  new  track  is  usually  built  to  carry  the  traffic." 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND     THE    RAILWAYS 


251 


The  use  of  signals  for  running  trains  more  safely  has  increased 
very  much  in  the  last  dozen  years  of  American  railroad  history. 
As  traffic  increased  and  trains  were  required  to  run  closer,  the  neces- 
sity for  more  signals  and  greater  accuracy  grew  correspondingly. 
Block  signals  are  now  commonly  used  in  this  country  to  space  fast 
trains,  while  interlocking  signals  have  been  introduced  at  all  large 
railway  yards,  terminals,  drawbridges,  etc.  The  impression  seems 
to  prevail  with  the  public  that  the  block  system  of  operating  trains 
is  used  on  every  bit  of  railway  in  the  country,  and  it  may  be  a  shock 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Block  Signal  System,  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 

to  some  to  learn  that  only  one-eighth  of  our  railway  mileage  is  pro- 
tected by  this  system.  In  Europe  the  use  of  signals  is  not  as  fully 
established  as  it  is  here,  but  in  all  parts  of  the  world  the  tendency 
to  use  them  is  increasing  rapidly. 

To  understand  the  automatic  block  signal  system,  let  us  first 
suppose  that  a  mile  of  track  represents  a  block.  As  soon  as  a  train 
enters  this  block,  its  wheels  and  axles  form  an  electrical  connection 
between  the  two  rails  on  the  ground,  which  are  charged  with  a  cur- 
rent for  operating  signals.  The  train  making  this  connection  de- 
energizes  an  electromagnet  and  allows  a  semaphore  arm  to  assume 
a  stop-position,  which  notifies  any  following  train  that  there  is  a 


252 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


train  in  that  block.  The  semaphore  arm  remains  at  stop-position 
just  as  long  as  there  is  a  train  in  the  block,  and  the  instant  it  passes 
out  of  the  block  the  electromagnet  is  energized  and  pulls  the  arm 
to  the  "  all-clear"  position.  Where  the  traffic  is  heavy,  the  system 
is  often  duplicated,  and  at  each  signal-post  set  at  the  entrance  of  a 
block  the  engineer  is  informed  of  the  condition  of  the  track  for  two 
blocks  ahead,  and  knows  that  it  is  safe  for  him  to  put  on  speed, 
or  that  he  must  reduce  speed  and  be  prepared  to  stop  a  mile  farther 
on,  if  the  second  block  is  not  cleared  when  he  reaches  it.  The  only 
accidents  tliat  can  happen  to  the  signalling  apparatus  result  simply 
in  giving  the  signal  to  stop.  In  other  words,  the  mechanism  cannot 
give  the  *'  all-clear"  signal  unless  the  track  is  surely  clear.  If  any 
one  should  try  to  tamper  with  it,  or  the  magnets  should  give  out, 
the  result  would  be  a  signal  to  the  engineer  to  stop. 

Where  there  are  a  number  of  railway  switches  at  one  point, 
constituting  an  important  junction,  railway  yard,  or  the  like,  an 
elevated  signal  cabin  is  employed,  in  which  an  operator  stands  and 
throw^s  levers  to  operate  the  switches.  By  a  system  of  interlocking, 
he  is  prevented  from  ever  throwing  conflicting  switches ;  that  is, 
if  he  throws  a  switch  to  send  a  train  from  track  one  to  track  five, 
and  it  has  to  pass  three  other  switches  to  get  there,  these  other 
switches  are  kept  closed  by  the  same  movement  of  levers  that  opens 
the  switch  for  track  five.  The  signalman  can  make  mistakes,  as 
human  nature  is  prone  to  do,  but  the  interlocking  system  prevents 
his  making  dangerous  mistakes.  He  can  send  a  train  to  track  four 
when  he  should  send  it  to  track  five,  but  he  cannot  send  two  trains 
on  to  track  four  at  the  same  time,  nor  can  he  cause  collisions  by 
inadvertence.  In  interlocking  systems  the  switches  are  most  com- 
monly pulled  by  rods  and  levers,  and  when  there  are  many  of  them 
in  a  railway  yard,  they  are  boxed  over  for  protection ;  but  where 
the  number  of  switches  is  so  great  that  these  become  cumbersome 
to  handle,  and  use  up  ground  space  that  is  wanted  for  other  pur- 
poses, compressed  air  and  electricity  are  used  to  operate  them. 

At  the  Grand  Central  yards  in  New  York  City,  the  switches 
and  signals  are  all  worked  by  a  low-pressure  pneumatic  system.  In 
this  case  the  operator,  in  pulling  his  levers,  simply  sets  certain  valves, 
which  admit  air,  under  a  pressure  of  fifteen  pounds,  to  certain  pipes 
and  do  the  work  of  setting  the  switch. 

A  vast  number  of  inventions  have  been  patented  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reducing  the  dangers  of  railway  travel.  When  we  reflect 
that  the  railways  of  the  United  States  alone  kill  over  eight  thou- 
sand five  hundred  persons  a  year  through  accidents,  it  is  not  sur- 


THE    IRON    HORSE    AND     THE    RAILWAYS 


253 


prising  that  safety  devices  are  numerous.  The  wonder  is  that 
the  railwa)^s  do  not  employ  them.  Of  course,  it  may  be  argued, 
in  favor  of  the  railway  companies,  that  a  great  majority  of  these 
inventions  are  impractical.  This  is  true,  but  many  that  are  quite 
practical  are  not  adopted,  and  the  block  system,  which  is  the  best 
in  practice,  is  yet  to  be  applied  to  about  175,000  miles  of  our  rail- 
\^■ays ! 

The  official  figures  of  railway  accidents  constitute  the  most 
appalling  record.  Every  tiventy-foiir  miles  of  raikcay  track  in  tJie 
United  States  sees  one  person  killed  every  year,  and  every  three 
miles  sees  one  person  injured.  Following  are  the  official  figures, 
which  are  worthy  of  study,  and  should  arouse  the  public  to  some 
action  tending  to  reduce  the  dangers : 


RAILROAD  ACCIDENTS   IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

(From  the  Report  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.) 


Year  Ending 

Employees. 

Passengers.         :             Others. 

Total. 

June  30. 

Killed.       Injured. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Killed.    :   Injured. 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901 

1902 

1958 
2210 
2550 
2675 
2969 

31.761 
34923 
36,643 
41,142 
50,524 

221 

239 
249 
282 

345 

2945 
3442 
4128 
4988 
6683 

4680 
4674 
5066 
5498 
5284 

6176 
6255 
6549 
7209 
7455 

6859 
7123 
7865 
8455 
8588 

40,882 
44,620 
50.320 
53.339 
64,662 

The  total  number  of  passengers  carried  in  1902  was  649,878,505  as  against  607,278,121  in  1901. 


Employees. 

Passengers. 

Others. 

Kind  of  Accident. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

Killed. 

Injured. 

167 
424 
209 

23 
21 

491 

140 
926 

83 
298 

2,864 

2,759 

1,301 

418 

192 

4,667 

3,336 

1,699 

729 

9350 

133 
37 

53 

67 
39 

2360 

1069 

82 

8 

372 

984 
410 

60 

47 
5 
4 

35S 

430 
3982 

231 

134 
32 
12 

636 

1445 
3563 

Locomotives  or  cars  breaking  down  . 
Falling  from  trains,  locomotives,  or 

cars 

Jumping  on  or  off  trains,  locomotives. 

Struck  by  trains,  locomotives,  or  cars 

15 

1 153 

348 

1 144 

Total 

2782 

27,315 

344 

6438 

5234 

7197 

Two  hundred  and  twenty-eight  persons  were  killed  and  23,712  injured  in  handling  traffic,  tools, 
machinery,  supplies,  etc.,  and  in  getting  on  or  off  locomotives  or  cars  at  re.=t  and  from  other  causes. 

According  to  the  Railway  Age,  during  1902  1096  persons  were  killed  and  6661  injured  on 
English  railways.  The  proportion  of  passengers,  exclusive  of  season-ticket  holders,  killed  or  injured 
in  train  accidents  from  causes  beyond  their  own  control,  was  one  in  198,036,545,  and  one  in  1,623,250, 
respectively;  and  the  proportion  in  all  classes  of  accidents  one  in  9,211,002  and  one  in  466,700.  Of 
the  447  railway  employees  killed,  92  met  their  death  in  switching  accidents,  while  of  the  3713  injured, 
2013  received  their  injuries  from  the  same  cause.    The  list  of  killed  includes  135  suicides. 


THE  LIGHT  OF  TO-DAY  AND  OF  TO-MORROW 

As  the  heavens  are  dotted  with  blazing  stars,  each  a  sun  send- 
ing its  glow  through  measureless  miles  of  space,  so  is  the  earth 
being  decked  with  artificial  lights  by  the  efiforts  of  mankind,  and 
light-giving  inventions  are  heralded  with  almost  as  much  eclat  as 
though  they  paralleled  the  illuminations  of  nature.  Although  we 
value  artificial  light  so  highly,  yet  it  is  one  of  the  things  that  we 
could  do  without  were  we  so  minded,  for  there  are  hours  enough 
of  daylight,  and  no  place  above  ground  is  obscured  from  the  sun- 
light except  by  man's  own  structures.  But  the  restless  activity  that 
has  made  man  master  of  the  earth  seems  to  bid  him  work  on  after 
the  sun  has  set,  or  play  on  if  he  has  stopped  his  work,  creating  a 
strong  desire  for  artificial  light,  which  is  looked  upon  as  a  necessity. 

From  the  rush-lights  of  our  ancestors  to  the  great  search-lights 
of  the  twentieth  century  is  a  long  journey,  and  we  can  spare  very 
little  space  to  trace  the  connection.  First,  the  rush-light,  then  the 
candle,  next  the  kerosene  lamp,  improved  by  the  Argand  burner; 
then  coal-gas,  with  a  side  development  later  in  the  Welsbach  man- 
tle; and  not  forgetting  the  lime-light,  once  the  synonym  for  ex- 
cessive brilliancy ;  until  we  reach  the  light  comparable  with  sunlight, 
before  which  all  our  other  lights  pale, — the  electric  arc,  made  of 
real  lightning,  but  harnessed  for  use  and  not  destruction. 

The  electric  light  is  nearest  the  sunlight  in  character  and  power. 
In  fact,  we  do  not  know  how  much  the  sun's  light  may  be  attribu- 
table to  electricity,  rather  than  simple  heat,  for  the  theories  of  elec- 
tricity and  ethereal  waves  are  much  metamorphosed  by  late  dis- 
coveries, and  the  more  eminent  the  student  of  science  the  more 
ready  he  is  to  tell  you  that  he  does  not  know  just  what  sunlight  is, 
or  how  the  sun  gives  ofif  such  great  heat  and  light. 

Electric  lights  are  of  two  general  classes,  incandescent  and 
arc.  The  current  used  to  produce  an  incandescent  light  is  what  is 
known  as  a  low-tension  circuit,  of  commonly  no  to  240  volts,  and 
the  shock  that  is  received  by  a  person  through  whom  it  happens 
to  pass  is  not  severe  enough  to  do  any  harm.  The  arc  light  is  pro- 
duced with  a  high-tension  current  that  varies  from  2000  to  5000 
volts,  either  of  which  is  fatal  to  one  receiving  the  full  force  of  the 
voltage. 

The  incandescent  light  is  produced  by  a  continuous  current, 
and  the  arc  light  by  an  alternating  current.     The  continuous  cur- 

254 


THE  LIGHT  OF  TO-DAY  AND  OF  TO-MORROW 


255 


rent  is  brought  from  a  dynamo  having  the  commutator  and  brushes 
so  arranged  that  they  take  up  ah  the  impulses  of  the  same  polarity, 
conducting  them  away  by  one  brush  while  the  impulses  of  the  oppo- 
site polarity  are  conducted  away  by  another  brush.  As  a  result,  the 
current  of  one  brush  is  always  positive  and  the  other  negative,  and 
the  current  is  not  interrupted,  but  flows  continuously  in  one  direc- 
tion. In  the  alternating  current  dynamo  there  is  one  polarit}'  when 
a  section  of  armature  coil  is  approaching  a  north  field  magnet  pole 
(or  receding  from  a  south  pole),  while  the  other  polarity  prevails 
when  receding'  from  a  north  pole.  In  this  way  there  are  produced 
with  great  rapidity  impulses  of  opposite  polarity. 

There  are  some  3000  electric-light  stations  in  the  United  States, 
Illinois  having  the  largest  number,  closely  followed  by  the  States  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  The  total  capitalization  of  these 
plants  is  about  $700,000,000,  and  the  actual  investment  is  believed 
to  be  about  one-half  that  sum. 

In  arranging  an  electric-light  plant,  one  of  the  first  considera- 
tions is  that  all  machinery  shall  be  duplicated,  so  that  in  the  case 
of  accidents  (which  will  happen)  one  set  of  machinery  can  be 
thrown  out  of  use  antl  another  set  thrown  in.  A  common  method 
in  large  plants  is  to  provide  two  distinct  engine  rooms,  two  fire 
rooms,  and  a  switchboard  room,  communicating  with  each  other 
but  capable  of  instant  and  complete  electrical  separation,  so  that  in 
case  of  trouble  of  any  sort  the  man  at  the  operating  table  that  con- 
trols the  switches  can  manipulate  the  connections  so  that  the  load 
of  work  is  transferred  to  portions  of  the  stations  not  affected  by  the 
difficulty. 

The  switchboard  of  a  large  electric-light  plant  is  a  board  in 
name  only,  being  rather  a  place  where  the  switches  are  located. 
They  may  be  mounted  on  rows  of  iron  posts,  one  row  of  posts  for 
positive  and  another  row  for  negative  switches.  The  best  practice 
is  to  operate  the  switches  by  motors,  providing  interlocking  mechan- 
ism to  prevent  short  circuits.  Of  course,  they  are  also  operable  by 
hand.  At  the  operating  table  a  man  controls  the  whole  situation, 
and  can  change  any  of  the  connections  through  the  switches,  as  well 
as  control  the  field  regulating  rheostats.  This  not  only  reduces 
labor,  but  renders  results  more  certain.  What  the  patrons  of  an 
electric-light  company  demand  is  a  constant  service,  and  by  such 
means  the  little  difficulties  that  will  occur  with  all  classes  of  ma- 
chinery are  prevented  from  annoying  the  customers. 

Since  an  electric-light  plant  is  simply  a  mechanism  for  con- 
verting steam  power  into  electric  currents  that  may  be  used  for 


Courtesy  Electrical  -WorM  :iu'l  Entrineer. 

Front  of  Switchboard. 


Courtesy  Electrical  World  and  Engineer. 

Rear  of  Switchboard. 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW  257 

lighting,  it  is  evident  that  a  most  important  part  of  the  outfit  con- 
sists of  boilers,  engines,  and  piping.  The  boilers  usually  stand 
in  rows,  and  are  fed  with  mechanical  stokers,  the  coal  being  brought 
in  by  conveyors,  and  the  ashes  carried  out  in  the  same  way,  so  that 
hand  labor  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  latest  boilers  are  ecjuipped 
with  superheaters  and  all  up-to-date  contrivances  for  providing 
the  most  steam  at  the  least  cost.  Even  the  charge  for  water  is 
seriously  considered,  and  reduced  in  some  cases  by  means  of  con- 
densers for  using  it  over  again.  This  would  be  the  common  prac- 
tice were  it  not  that  a  limit  is  set  to  the  re-use  of  water,  because  it 
gathers  oil  from  the  cylinders  and  tubes,  and  this  is  liable  to  prove 
dangerous. 

The  steam  piping  for  an  electric-light  plant  is  very  elaborate 
and  involves  much  expense.  The  pipes  that  carry  the  steam  from 
the  boilers  to  the  engines  require  to  be  so  valved  that  any  boiler 
can  be  used  to  supply  any  desired  engine,  and  this  must  be  accom- 
plished with  as  little  loss  of  heat  as  possible.  The  engines  are 
usually  direct-connected  to  the  dynamos,  which  latter  thus  send  out 
the  strong  currents  which  the  man  at  the  operating  table  may  direct 
to  any  line  within  his  field. 

The  incandescent  light  derives  its  name  from  the  red-hot  car- 
bon filament  enclosed  in  the  glass  bulb,  which  is  deprived  almost 
wholly  of  air.  This  light  is  based  on  the  fact  that  electricity  heats 
a  poor  conductor.  The  thread-like  filament  in  the  bulb  is  of  car- 
bonized cellulose,  and  when,  by  turning  a  knob,  we  admit  a  current 
to  the  filament,  its  poor  conducting  qualities  make  the  passage  of 
the  electric  current  so  difficult  that  it  heats,  becoming  red  hot  almost 
instantly.  If  it  were  not  for  the  partial  vacuum  in  the  glass  bulb. 
the  filament  would  bvn^n  up  in  another  instant,  but  oxygen  is  essen- 
tial to  combustion,  and  by  pumping  out  all  the  air  possible  from  the 
,  bulb,  the  oxygen  left  is  of  such  small  quantity  that  the  filament 
cannot  burn  readily,  but  lasts  for  months,  usually  until  some  leakage 
admits  the  air,  and  the  filament  as  a  result  succumbs  to  combustion. 

The  arc  light  is  made  on  a  different  principle.  A  very  much 
stronger  electric  current  is  used,  and  directed  through  the  two  op- 
posed finger-like  carbons  of  an  arc  lamp.  If  the  carbons  touched 
each  other,  the  current  would  pass  through  both  without  making 
any  light,  but  they  are  placed  a  short  distance  apart,  and  the  lamp 
i  is  provided  with  a  mechanism  for  keeping  them  at  that  distance. 

The  current  jumps  this  slight  space,  passing  in  the  form  of  an  arc 
or  curve  from  the  point  of  one  carbon  to  the  other.  In  thus  pass- 
ing through  the  air,   it  becomes  a  veritable  streak  of  lightning. 

17 


258 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


so  that  the  expression  "  harnessing  the  hghtning"  is  not  wholly 
figurative. 

In  the  older  styles  of  arc  lamps  the  air  had  free  access  to  the 
carbon  points,  but  it  has  been  found  better  to  enclose  them,  and 
the  latest  lamps  are  so  made.  The  trouble  with  the  exposed  carbons 
was  that  they  burned  away  so  rapidly,  and  the  lamps  were  in  use  a 
number  of  years  before  the  makers  devised  satisfactory  feeds  for 
the  carbons,  so  as  to  keep  them  at  an  even  distance  apart  and  pre- 
vent flickering  of  the  light.  After  the  current  was  turned  through 
the  carbons  for  a  few  minutes,  they  became  pointed,  and  the  upper 
carbon,  which  is  the  positive,  from  which  the  current  flows  down, 
burned  away  about  twice  as  fast  as  the  lower.  A  little  hollow 
formed  in  the  point  of  the  upper  carbon,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  light  coming  from  this  hollow  was  thrown  downward  at  an 
angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  whereas  it  should  go  out  sideways  to 
spread  the  most  light. 

The  new  enclosed  light  has  a  globe  that,  while  far  from  air- 
tight, serves  to  keep  away  the  air  sufficiently  to  reduce  greatly  the 
burning  of  the  carbons.  The  ends  of  the  carbons  do  not  become 
pointed,  nor  does  the  positive  carbon  tend  to  form  a  cup  or  hollow. 
It  is  also  possible  to  keep  the  carbons  at  a  greater  distance,  thus 
lengthening  the  arc  and  increasing  the  power  of  the  light. 

The  flame-arc  lamp  is  a  still  later  improvement.  With  this  the 
carbons  are  soaked  in  salts  of  barium  or  lime,  which  produce  vapors 
that  tend  to  a  considerable  increase  of  luminosity,  and  permit  still 
greater  lengthening  of  the  arc.  Zeidler's  intensive  flame-arc  lamp 
is  constructed  with  the  carbons  side  by  side,  but  forming  an  acute 
angle  like  the  sides  of  a  capital  V.  Both  carbons  as  they  burn 
away  are  advanced  by  the  mechanism,  and  as  they  point  downward 
there  is  no  shadow  below.  When  this  lamp  is  enclosed  in  a  globe 
and  placed  in  the  focus  of  a  suitable  concave  reflector,  it  is  five  to 
ten  times  as  effective  as  the  ordinary  arc  lamp,  of  the  same  current 
power,  as  made  a  few  years  ago. 

The  use  of  salts  to  intensify  light  grows  out  of  the  lime-light, 
as  discovered  by  Drummond,  of  England,  in  1826.  He  found  that, 
when  a  piece  of  quicklime  was  exposed  in  a  hot  flame,  as  that  pro- 
duced by  an  oxyhydrogen  blowpipe,  the  glare  of  the  flame  was 
greatly  increased.  On  this  discovery  was  based  the  lime-light,  and 
it  was  the  study  of  this  principle  that  enabled  Welsbach  to  produce 
his  gas  mantle  for  doubling  the  efficiency  of  a  gas  flame. 

Welsbach  hunted  for  a  better  material  than  quicklime,  and 
found  it  in  the  salts  of  certain  rare  earths,  as  thorium,  neodymium^ 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW 


259 


etc.  By  searching  he  found  that  these  earths  were  not  so  rare  as 
supposed,  and,  having  cornered  a  supply  in  North  Carohna,  the 
Welsbach  Company  was  formed  to  exploit  the  mantle.  This  is  a 
simple  sheath  as  large  or  a  little  larger  than  a  man's  thumb.  It 
is  formed  of  loosely  woven  cotton,  soaked  in  the  salts,  which  dry 
over  the  cotton.  When  this  mantle  is  hung  over  a  gas  flame,  the 
cotton  burns  away,  and  the  very  fragile  coating  of  salts  remains 
to  give  out  its  soft  and  pleasing  luminosity  until  by  some  accident 
it  is  crushed.  An  important  improvement  made  by  Rawson  in 
1889  provides  for  coating  the  mantles  with  paraffine  or  the  like  to 
toughen  them,  rendering  transportation  much  safer.  This  mantle 
is  also  applied  to  gasolene  lights  with  remarkable  results. 

Auer  von  Welsbach,  the  talented  inventor  of  the  mantle,  has 
devised  a  new  filament  for  incandescent  electric  lights.  He  sub- 
stitutes osmium  for  the  carbon  filament,  and,  as  this  has  natural 
luminosity,  it  should  greatly  increase  the  power  of  incandescent 
lamps  with  a  given  current.  However,  the  efforts  of  Edison  and  the 
other  inventors  in  the  incandescent-light  field  were  to  secure  an 
electric  light  of  low-  power,  as  the  demand  for  house-lights  does  not 
call  for  any  greater  brilliancy  than  that  commonly  employed.  So 
there  may  not  be  much  field  for  this. 

Another  invention  of  much  promise  that  is  just  coming  on  the 
market  is  the  Nernst  electric  lamp,  which  was  first  developed  by 
the  General  Electric  Company  of  Berlin,  and  is  now  manufactured 
in  Pittsburg.  It  is  based  on  the  fact  that  a  filament  of  a  non- 
conductor, such  as  magnesia,  becomes  a  good  conductor  after  it  is 
heated.  It  is  made  somewhat  in  the  form  of  an  electric  incandescent 
lamp,  but  has  an  open  bulb.  The  filament  is  made  thick  and  short, 
and  it  requires  to  be  lit  with  a  match  or  other  flame,  to  start  the 
heat,  after  which  the  electric  current,  which  may  be  either  con- 
tinuous or  alternating,  produces  the  light.  The  light  produced  is 
whiter  and  more  brilliant  than  the  electric  incandescent,  as  far  as 
appearances  go,  and  the  claim  is  made  that  it  has  twice  the  efficiency. 
The  lamp  certainly  has  the  merit  of  having  less  perishable  parts  than 
the  electric  incandescent,  as  the  filaments  can  be  more  easily  and 
cheaply  replaced. 

The  search-lights  commonly  used  by  vessels  of  war  are  elec- 
tric lights  supplied  with  large  reflectors  to  send  the  beam  all  in 
one  direction.  Some  of  these  are  very  large,  the  one  shown  in 
the  illustration  being  located  on  Mount  Lowe,  near  Pasadena,  Cali- 
fornia, having  3,000,000  candle  power,  and  owing  to  its  elevation 
being  visible  at  times  at  a  distance  of  about  100  miles. 


26o 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Acetylene  gas  has  made  considerable  progress  as  an  illuminant. 
It  gives  out  about  ten  times  as  much  light  for  the  same  volume 
of  gas  as  does  a  good  grade  of  water-gas,  but  its  odor  is  unpleasant, 
and  it  suffered  at  the  time  of  its  introduction  from  efforts  made  to 
impress  the  public  with  the  notion  that  it  was  dangerous  for  general 


The  Nernst  Electric  Lamp. 

use.  Having  been  proven  to  be  no  more  dangerous  than  other 
gases,  or  than  electric  currents,  its  progress  in  public  favor  has 
been  steady.  Some  seventy-five  towns  and  municipalities  in  the 
United  States  employ  it  for  public  lighting,  besides  about  fifty  in 
Germany  and  thirty  in  France.  It  is  also  used  by  fifty  or  sixty 
railroad  companies  in  America,  including  such  lines  as  the  Great 
Northern  and  Southern  Pacific. 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW 


261 


Acetylene  gas  is  a  combination  of  two  parts  hydrogen  and 
two  parts  carbon.  It  was  first  known  in  1836,  l^nt  was  very  ex- 
pensive to  produce  until  the  introduction  of  the  electric  furnace 
enabled  calcium  carbide  to  be  manufactured  cheaply.  It  is  now 
commonly  produced  by  allowing  water  to  drop  into  the  calcium 
carbide,  and  when  decomposition  sets  in  the  gas  rises  and  may  be 
carried  off  and  burned  like  ordinary  coal-gas. 

The  first  patent  of  any  consequence  for  the  production  of 
acetylene  gas   for  illuminating-  purposes  was   granted  to  Thomas 


Copyright,  1902,  by  Detroit  Photographic  Company. 

Projector  on  Mt.  Lowe,  California. 


L.  Willson  in  1895.  His  success  stimulated  invention  to  such  a 
degree  that  some  600  patents  have  since  been  issued  in  the  United 
States  for  acetylene  apparatus.  A  great  variety  of  means  are 
employed  for  bringing  together  the  water  and  calcium  carbide; 
in  some  the  water  falls  drop  by  drop  upon  the  carbide,  a  regulating 
valve  determining  the  amount  of  water,  and  hence  the  amount  of 
gas  manufactured;    in  another  and  opposite  arrangement,  a  regu- 


262 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


lated  quantity  of  powdered  carbide  is  dropped  into  water.  The 
Criterion  generator  is  a  simple  form  of  acetylene-gas  apparatus 
operated  on  the  first-named  principle.  In  this  a  series  of  metal  jars 
are  suspended  in  a  circle  from  a  post :  the  jars  are  filled  with  car- 
bide, and  water  connections  are  made  in  such  a  way  that  a  regulated 


Carter  Acetvlene  Generator. 


cjuantity  of  water  flows  into  each  jar.  one  after  the  other,  while 
the  gas  generated  is  carried  into  a  rising  and  falling  holder. 

.  In  the  Carter  acetylene  generator  the  carbide  is  contained  in 
the  generator,  or  large  outer  box,  in  trays,  each  compartment 
containing  about  one  pound  of  carbide.     The  flow  of  water  from 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW 


263 


the  water  tank  is  regulated  by  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  holder  when 
at  its  lowest  point,  the  water  flowing  into  the  first  cell,  extracting 
the  gas  from  the  carbide,  and  flooding  it  with  water  before  attack- 
ing the  next  cell,  and  so  on  until  the  generator  is  exhausted.  It 
will  be  understood  from  this  principle  that  only  one  pound  of  car- 
bide is  at  work  at  one  time.  The  balance  of  the  carbide  in  .the 
generator,  being  in  a  dry  state,  can  make  no  gas.  This  principle  of 
operation  enables  the  makers  to  guarantee  that  overproduction  of 
gas  and  consequent  loss  will  not  take  place  in  their  apparatus. 


Colt  Acetylene  Gas  Machine. 

The  manufacture  of  calcium  carbide  is  carried  on  at  Niagara 
Falls,  at  Spray,  North  Carolina,  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Michigan, 
and  the  cost  has  been  greatly  reduced,  being  now  in  the  vicinity  of 
three  and  a  half  cents  a  pound. 

Acetylene  gas,  burned  through  a  half- foot  burner,  gives  out 
the  same  amount  of  light  as  ordinary  city  gas  burned  through  a 
five- foot  burner,  so  that  100  feet  of  the  former  go  as  far  as  1000 
of  the  latter.     In  1903  this  100  feet  cost  about  83  cents  as  against 


264  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

$1,  the  common  price  of  city  gas.  The  making  of  acetylene  gas 
is  such  a  simple  matter  that  every  householder  can  have  it,  and 
hence  it  is  to  this  illuminant  the  public  look  to  reduce  the  price  of 
ordinary  water-gas,  which  is  sold  at  an  enormous  profit  in  most 
large  cities. 

About  two  million  acetylene  lamps  have  been  sold  for  use  with 
the  bicycle,  and  a  larger  form  of  lamp  is  popular  for  use  on  auto- 
mobiles and  other  vehicles.  They  are  also  in  demand  on  boats  and 
launches,  and  a  considerable  number  of  search-lights  are  operated 
with  acetylene. 

Coal-gas  for  house  lighting  was  introduced  in  the  United 
States  about  1821,  and  has  become  one  of  our  most  important 
industries.  Notwithstanding  the  progress  of  the  electric  light,  and 
the  fact  that  petroleum  lights  are  still  in  great  demand,  the  manu- 
facture of  gas  for  lighting  purposes  continues  to  be  a  prosperous 
business  throughout  the  entire  civilized  w^orld.  The  quality  of  a 
gas  for  illuminating  depends  largely  on  the  quality  of  the  coal  used 
in  making  it,  although  there  are  artificial  means  for  increasing  its 
illuminating  power.  The  quicker  coal  is  turned  into  gas  after 
mining,  the  more  gas  it  will  make,  as  it  loses  by  being  stored  in 
the  open  air. 

The  first  process  in  gas-making  is  distillation,  which  con- 
sists in  heating  the  coal  in  a  large  vessel  or  retort,  which  process 
will  yield  a  little  over  10,000  cubic  feet  of  eighteen-candle  power 
per  ton  of  Pennsylvania  gas  coal.  The  retorts  used  are  made  of 
clay,  or  sometimes  of  cast  iron ;  the  round  form  of  retort  has 
strength  and  durability,  but  is  inferior  to  the  D-shaped  or  oval  form 
as  a  carbonizer.  The  coal  treated  in  the  retort  becomes  coke,  and 
by  heating  this  until  it  glows,  and  then  forcing  steam  through, 
about  30,000  feet  more  gas  are  obtained,  this  being  the  principle 
by  which  water-gas  is  made,  the  decomposition  of  the  water  passed 
through  the  coke  releasing  hydrogen  and  giving  this  increased 
output. 

By  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  gas  now  manufactured  is 
water-gas,  this  process  producing  so  much  more  gas  from  a  given 
quantity  of  coal,  though  it  has  the  disadvantage  of  being  much  more 
poisonous.  It  is  also  somewhat  deficient  in  illuminating  powder, 
so  that  it  has  to  be  enriched  by  carburetting,  which  process  enables 
a  percentage  of  petroleum  vapor  to  become  mixed  wath  it. 

Among  the  more  recent  processes  for  producing  water-gas 
that  of  Dellwik  and  Fleischer  is  regarded  very  favorably  by  the  gas 
trade.     In  the  first  producers  built  for  their  process,  there  were  side 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW 


265 


chambers  into  which  the  fuel  was  fed,  but  these  have  been  aban- 
doned, and  the  producer  is  now  buih  in  the  cyhndrical  form  shown 
in  the  illustration,  being  usually  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  and  having 
the  fuel  supported  on  a  grate,  beneath  which  the  air  is  blown.  The 
coke  fuel  is  supplied  at  the  top  by  means  of  a  small  dump  car,  but, 
instead  of  filling  the  producer  with  the  coke,  only  a  thin  layer  is 
used.  The  tall  cylinder  at  the  left,  it  will  be  understood,  is  the 
scrubber. 


Courtesy  Engineering  Magazine. 

Dellwik-Fleischer  Water-Gas  Apparatus. 

This  new  construction  has  produced  valuable  results.  Owing 
to  the  small  quantity  of  coke  supplied  at  the  fire-bars,  the  heating-up 
stage  is  reduced  to  about  three  minutes,  while  the  gas-making 
blow  is  increased  to  eight  or  ten  minutes,  and  the  amount  of 
water-gas  secured  from  the  coke  is  nearly  double  what  it  was  under 
the  old  methods.  A  feature  of  the  process  is  that  there  appears 
to  be  no  loss  at  all  of  combustible  gas,  the  products  of  combustion 
having  no  value  whatever  except  for  the  heat,  some  of  wdiich  can 
be  saved  for  raising  steam  by  the  use  of  proper  apparatus. 


266 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Mr.  Dellwik  calculates  that  93.5  per  cent,  of  the  water-gas 
made  by  the  above-described  process  is  combustible,  burning  with 
a  blue  flame  at  a  high  temperature.  The  following  table  shows  its 
composition : 

Hydrogen     51     per  cent. 

Carbon   monoxide    42       "       " 

Marsh  gas    5    "       " 

Carbon    dioxide    4.0 

Nitrogen     2.5    "       " 

The  average  modern  water-gas  plant  consists  of  a  generator, 
carburetter,  and  superheater,  for  making  the  fixed  gas,  a  con- 
densing, scrubbing  and  purifying  apparatus,  and  a  gas-holder. 


Sunlight  Acetylene  Gas  Machine. 


A  gas-scrubber  is  a  machine  in  which  the  gas  is  brought  into 
contact  with  drops  of  water  as  they  fall  from  one  surface  to  an- 
other, resulting  in  the  carrying  of  all  the  tar  to  the  bottom  of  the 
scrubber.  The  machine  also  removes  the  ammonia  and  a  portion 
of  the  carbonic  acid  and  sulphuretted  hydrogen  from  the  gas.  In 
operation  it  is  first  filled  with  water,  after  which  the  gas  is  turned 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW  267 

in,  an  effort  being  made  to  preserve  the  temperature  at  an  average 
of  60°  F.  Each  section  of  the  machine  contains  a  wheel  having 
thin  pieces  of  wood  fixed  horizontally  across  its  spokes ;  all  the 
wheels  are  turned  by  the  main  shaft,  very  little  driving-power  being 
required.  Water  is  admitted  into  the  machine  at  the  rate  of  ten 
gallons  for  each  ton  of  coal  carbonized,  and  is  drawn  off  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  machine.  The  wheels  rotate  at  a  speed  of  four 
or  five  turns  a  minute,  the  cross-sticks  on  their  lower  halves  being 
constantly  immersed,  while  the  upper  portions  present  a  large  wet 
surface  for  absorbing  the  ammonia. 

After  scrubbing,  the  gas  requires  to  be  still  further  purified, 
the  purifiers  being  large  tanks,  usually  arranged  in  series ;  in  these 
tanks  the  gas  is  treated  with  oxide  of  iron,  or  with  hydrate  of 
lime,  or  with  quicklime,  the  former  being  the  most  used. 

The  gas-holder  is  the  enormous  tank  by  which  the  gas-works 
is  usually  recognized ;  it  is  different  from  other  tanks  in  that  its 
height  is  constantly  changing  according  to  the  amount  of  gas  inside. 
The  larger  portion  of  the  tank  rests  on  the  gas  itself,  holding  it 
down,  and  creating  the  pressure  necessary  to  drive  it  through  the 
mains  to  consumers.  The  holder  is  built  within  a  guiding  frame 
of  trussed  steel,  in  which  it  rises  and  falls  as  the  gas  is  let  in  and 
drawn  off.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  size  of  gas-holders, 
they  having  been  constructed  of  a  capacity  of  over  12,000,000 
cubic  feet,  this  being  equivalent  to  about  400  feet  diameter  by  100 
feet  deep.  The  shells  of  gas-holders  are  made  of  sheet  steel,  riveted 
together,  and  set  upon  a  concrete  foundation. 

Boston  was  the  first  city  in  the  United  States  to  adopt  coal- 
gas  for  lighting,  wdiich  it  did  in  1822.  A  gas  company  was  formed 
in  New  York  in  the  following  year,  and  another  in  Brooklyn  in 
1825;  Philadelphia  and  other  large  cities  did  not  start  gas-works 
until  1835  or  later.  By  1850  the  industry  was  fairly  w-ell  estab- 
lished, there  being  thirty  companies,  with  $7,000,000  of  capital, 
using  materials  of  the  value  of  half  a  million  yearly  and  manufac- 
turing gas  valued  at  nearly  $2,000,000.  Gas  companies  multiplied 
rapidly  in  the  next  decade,  there  being  nearly  300  in  i860.  In  the 
census  year  of  1900,  877  gas  companies  were  reported  in  the 
United  States,  these  supplying  gas  to  827  cities.  Measured  by  the 
capital  invested,  gas  is  the  fourth  largest  industry  in  the  United 
States;  measured  by  the  number  of  establishments  and  the  wages 
paid,  it  is  the  thirty-sixth,  and  by  net  value  of  products  the  thirty- 
third.  The  capital  invested  in  1900  was  given  as  $567,000,000, 
which  is  remarkable  as  being  more  than  double  what  it  was  ten 


268 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


years  previously,  although  the  number  of  companies  had  shown  only 
a  slight  increase  and  the  amount  of  gas  sold  showed  a  gain  of  less 
than  thirty-three  per  cent,  in  value.  The  increased  capital  is  attrib- 
uted largely  to  investments  in  new  machinery  and  probably  some- 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Lighthouse  Projectors. 


what  to  the  modern  tendency  to  overcapitalization.  While  the  value 
of  the  gas  sold  in  1900  increased  less  than  thirty-three  per  cent,  over 
1890,  the  quantity  sold  increased  nearly  eighty-four  per  cent.,  thus 
showing  that  there  was  a  marked  decrease  in  price.     The  average 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW  269 

price  in  1900  was  a  minute  fraction  below  $1  per  1000  cubic  feet; 
in  1890  the  average  price  was  $1.42  per  1000.  The  lowest  average 
in  an}'  State  is  Pennsylvania,  where  the  cost  is  83  cents  per  1000, 
and  the  liighest  is  Nevada  where  it  is  $4.50.  The  total  quantity 
of  gas  sold,  both  for  lighting  and  fuel,  by  the  gas  companies  of 
the  United  States  during  1900  was  68,000,000,000  feet.  It  is  an 
astonishing  fact  that  New  York  City  alone  consumed  twenty-seven 
per  cent,  of  the  country's  total  output  of  gas,  18,000,000,000  feet 
being  recjuired  to  supply  the  wants  of  Greater  New  York  in  the 
closing  year  of  the  century.  Why  this  large  consumption  does  not 
permit  a  reduced  price  in  New  York  is  a  mystery  to  Gothamites. 
If  these  figures  were  other  than  official,  they  would  hardly  be  be- 
lieved ;  yet  this  is  only  one  of  a  number  of  indications  of  the  ex- 
traordinary activity  prevailing  in  the  largest  city  of  the  New  World. 

Another  curious  fact  gleaned  from  the  census  returns  is  that 
the  gas  companies  spend  more  for  oil  than  they  do  for  coal.  In 
the  early  history  of  the  gas  companies  coal  was  the  principal  item 
of  expense,  but  with  the  development  of  the  water-gas  process  most 
of  the  gas  is  made  out  of  water,  and  in  order  to  give  it  illuminating 
quality,  or  in  other  words  cause  it  to  burn  with  a  white  flame  in- 
stead of  a  blue  flame,  the  vapor  of  petroleum  is  added  to  the  gas 
as  an  enricher,  and  the  demand  for  a  good  cjuality  of  gas  has 
resulted  in  the  use  of  more  and  more  oil,  until  the  condition  was 
reached,  in  1900,  where  the  gas  companies'  yearly  bill  for  oil  was 
over  $8,000,000,  as  against  a  little  over  $7,000,000  paid  for  coal. 
The  competition  of  electric  lighting,  which  has  led  to  this  improve- 
ment in  illuminating  gas,  has  resulted  in  giving  the  cities  of  the 
United  States  better  gas  than  is  to  be  found  in  European  cities. 

The  lights  supplied  for  lighthouses  to  protect  mariners  along 
the  coast  are,  of  course,  the  most  powerful  in  ordinary  use.  The 
Light-House  Board  has  charge  of  these  in  the  United  States,  main- 
taining about  1400  stations.  All  important  points  on  our  coast 
line  have  lighthouses,  with  lamps  that  are  visible  from  a  distance 
of  twenty-five  or  more  miles ;  a  very  large  number  are  visible  at 
twenty  miles  and  minor  stations  at  fifteen  miles  or  less.  At  no 
point  on  the  coast  wdiere  there  is  much  navigation  can  a  vessel 
reach  the  shore  line  without  coming  within  the  radius  of  one  or 
more  of  these  lighthouses.  The  lights  in  adjacent  points  are  either 
differently  colored  or  made  to  flash  differently,  in  order  that  the 
mariner  with  a  chart  may  know  by  these  conditions  what  light  it 
is  that  he  sees.  For  instance,  along  the  Massachusetts  coast  are 
the  following:    at  Cape  Ann  is  a  fixed  white  light;    at  Boston 


270 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


harbor,  on  a  lightship,  a  fixed  red  Hght ;  at  Race  Point,  a  long  and 
short  flash  white  light ;  at  Cape  Cod,  a  white  flash  light ;  at  Nau- 
set  Beach,  a  fixed  white  light;  on  lightship  in  Nantucket  Sound, 
a  fixed  red  light;  on  Nantucket  Island,  a  long  and  short  flash 
white  light ;  at  Gay  Head,  Martha's  Vineyard,  a  lamp  gi\ing  three 
white  flashes  and  a  red  flash.  The  most  important  of  the  lights 
named  is  perhaps  the  Cape  Cod  light,  which  has  a  lens  revolving 
in  mercury,  and  gives  a  flash  of  192,000  candle-power,  visible  at  a 


Map  of  Maine  Coast,  showing  how  it  is  guarded  by  Lighthouses. 

distance  of  twenty-five  miles.  The  rotation  is  so  timed  that  the 
flash  is  seen  every  five  seconds  for  a  third  of  a  second.  The  instal- 
lation of  this  light  in  place  of  an  inferior  one  cost  $15,000.  What 
is  known  as  a  first-order  light  costs  the  government  about  $90,000,, 
including  the  structure.  Nearly  $4,000,000  a  year  is  appropri- 
ated by  Congress  to  maintain  the  lights,  and  to  supply  such  new 
ones  as  the  service  demands,  on  the  coasts,  lakes  and  rivers  of  the 
United  States.  Some  sixty  light-vessels  are  under  the  control  of 
the  Light-House  Board,  the  best  of  them  being  a  steel  steamer  of 
538  tons,  whose  annual  bill  for  maintenance  foots  up  $13,500. 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW  271 

The  majority  of  the  hghts  maintained  by  the  Light-House 
Board  employ  oil  as  fuel,  but  the  Pintsch  gas-lights  are  in  common 
use,  and  also  a  number  of  electric  lights.  Experiments  have  been 
made  to  test  the  value  of  acetylene  gas  as  a  substitute  for  the 
Pintsch  gas,  the  engineers  who  made  the  test  reporting  favorably 
upon  acetylene,  as  giving  a  higher  candle-power  for  the  same  cost. 

First-class  lights  in  lighthouses  owe  their  power  very  largely 
to  the  reflectors  used.  These  are  glass  lenses,  commonlv  called 
Fresnel  lenses,  consisting  of  ring-shaped  prisms  that  send  out  the 
light  in  parallel  rays.  The  light  is  centrally  located  in  the  foci  of 
the  lenses. 

There  are  few  lighthouses  whose  beams  are  visible  more  than 
twenty-five  miles,  indeed  .there  is  little  reason  for  making  them  more 
powerful.  On  the  island  of  Pleligoland,  in  the  North  Sea,  the  Ger- 
man government  has  placed  a  light,  with  a  special  reflecting  appa- 
ratus, said  to  develop  30,000,000  candle-power.  This  should  be 
visible  from  a  distance  of  about  a  hundred  miles.  But  even  this 
great  light  is  thrown  into  the  shade,  so  to  speak,  by  the  Lepaute 
electric-light  beacon  exhibited  at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago 
in  1892.  Its  great  lenses,  facing  oppositely,  are  each  nine  feet 
in  diameter.  The  powerful  arc  light  focused  therein  is  credited 
with  developing  90,000,000  candle-power.  This  enormous  beacon 
could  be  seen  from  a  distance  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  if  suffi- 
ciently elevated  to  overcome  the  curvature  of  the  earth's  surface. 
The  lenses  and  light  together  constitute  a  lantern,  and  are  floated 
in  a  bath  of  mercury,  to  secure  easy  movement,  as  is  customary 
with  all  large  Hghts  of  the  sort,  and,  although  this  enormous  lan- 
tern weighs  several  tons,  it  can  be  turned  around  with  the  pressure 
of  a  finger. 

During  a  thick  fog  lighthouses  are  useless,  and  this  difficulty 
is  overcome  in  a  measure  by  supplying  them  with  fog-signalling 
apparatus  of  one  sort  or  another.  The  chief  trouble  with  such 
signals  has  been  the  uncertainty  of  knowing  the  direction  from 
which  the  sound  comes.  Strong  steam  sirens  have  been  devised 
that  could  be  heard  for  miles,  but  the  most  trained  ears  could  not 
locate  the  direction  with  certainty,  and  this  was  a  source  of  danger 
to  the  mariner.  This  difficulty  has  been  met  by  the  Hamilton- 
Foster  signal  apparatus,  one  of  which  is  located  at  Faulkner  Island. 
Experiments  made  by  the  Light-House  Board  demonstrated  that 
a  megaphone  pointed  directly  towards  a  vessel  drowned  the  sound 
from  megaphones  not  directed  towards  it.  The  apparatus  is  pro- 
vided with  eight   large  megaphones,   pointing  towards  the   eight 


2/2 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


principal  points  of  the  compass.  A  different  sort  of  blast  is  sent 
throngh  each  of  the  eight,  one  long  blast  signifying  to  the  hearer 
that  the  megaphone  is  north  of  him,  one  short  blast,  that  it  is  south, 
and  combination  sounds  for  the  others.  Lighthouses  provided 
with  these  are  able  to  warn  vessels  of  their  nearness  and  position 
almost  as  certainly  in  a  fog  as  in  a  clear  night.  A  less  expensive 
form  of  apparatus,  for  use  on  vessels,  is  made  with  one  megaphone 
arranged  to  point  at  eight  different  directions  in  rotation,  giving  the 
proper  signal  in  each  direction. 


Courtesy  Scientifit  American. 


Fog-Horn  Plant  on    Faulkner  Island. 


The  World's  Almanac  for  1904  contains  the  following  state- 
ment as  to  a  new  selective  or  static  converter,  used  in  the  electric- 
lighting  industry.     (See  illustration,  page  36.) 

"  Undoubtedly  the  most  interesting  single  invention  afifecting  the  lighting 
industr}-  was  the  public  demonstration  in  London,  early  last  year,  before  Lord 
Kelvin  and  other  European  savants,  and  later  in  New  York,  of  the  static  con- 
verter of  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt,  which  it  was  seen  at  once  would  play  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  future  of  the  industry  generally.  Briefly,  the  system  is  in- 
tended for  the  conversion  of  alternating  into  direct  current,  the  central  feature  of 
which  consists  in  the  utilization  of  peculiar  properties  of  electrodes  sealed  in  a 
receptacle  containing  vapor  at  a  certain  degree  of  alternation.  Under  this  con- 
dition the  electrodes  act  as  electric  valves,  permitting  passage  to  one  portion  of 
the  alternating  wave  and  suppressing  another  portion.  A  converter  for  200  lamps, 
for  example,  is  no  larger  than  a  100  c.  p.  incandescent  lamp,  and  is  much  more 


THE    LIGHT    OF    TO-DAY    AND    OF    TO-MORROW 


273 


simple  in  construction  than  the  latter.  The  new  converter  of  the  size  and  capacity 
mentioned  would  weigh  only  a  few  pounds,  whereas  a  rotary  converter  of  the 
same  capacity  would  weigh  in  the  neighborhood  of  700  pounds,  and  would  be  a 
complicated  piece  of  mechanism.  Although  this  converter  was  developed  as  a 
part  of  the  Cooper  Jiewitt  mercury-vapor  lamp  system,  it  has  been  found 
applicable  to  other  forms  of  service.  In  the  early  experiments  the  invention  did 
not  handle  above  3000  volts  pressure,  but  it  is  announced  that  the  range  may  be 
extended  to  10,000  volts  without  the  slightest  apprehension." 

Nikola  Tesla  has  given  out  information  from  time  to  time  of 
a  new  electric  light  upon  which  he  was  working,  for  which  he  has 
claimed  excellent  things,  but  which  is  not  yet  in  condition  for  the 
market.  He  encloses  rarefied  gases  in  a  tube,  and  sets  up  electric 
oscillations  which  cause  a  commotion  among  the  molecules  and 
atoms  of  the  gas,  causing  them  to  move  at  speeds  that  produce 
light.  The  lamps  arranged  on  this  principle  will  last  for  years, 
requiring  only  to  be  supplied  with  electricity,  usually  by  wires,  but 
they  can  also  be  operated  on  the  wireless  principle.  Commenting 
on  his  invention  in  the  Nczv  York  Swi,  Mr.  Tesla  says : 

"  I  have  found  that  in  almost  all  its  actions  the  light  produces  the  same 
effects  as  sunlight,  and  this  makes  me  hopeful  that  its  introduction  into  dwellings 
will  have  the  effect  of  improving,  in  a  measure  now  impossible  to  estimate,  the 
hygienic  conditions.  Since  sunlight  is  a  very  powerful  curative  agent,  and  since 
this  light  makes  it  possible  to  have  sunlight,  so  to  speak,  of  any  desired  intensity, 
day  and  night,  in  our  homes,  it  stands  to  reason  that  the  development  of  germs 
will  be  checked  and  m.any  diseases,  as  consumption,  for  instance,  successfuly 
combated  by  continually  exposing  the  patients  to  the  rays  of  these  lamps.  I  have 
ascertained  unmistakably  that  the  light  produces  a  soothing  action  on  the  nerves, 
which  I  attribute  to  the  effect  w^hich  it  has  upon  the  retina  of  the  eye.  It  also 
improves  vision,  just  exactly  as  the  sunlight,  and  it  ozonizes  slightly  the  atmos- 
phere. These  effects  can  be  regulated  at  will.  For  instance,  in  hospitals,  where 
such  a  light  is  of  paramount  importance,  lamps  may  be  designed  which  will  pro- 
duce just  that  quantity  of  ozone  which  the  physician  may  desire  for  the  purifica- 
tion of  the  atmosphere,  or,  if  necessary,  the  ozone  production  can  be  stopped 
altogether.'' 

The  future  will  probably  continue  to  develop  better  lights  than 
we  have  now,  the  tendency  being  to  make  business  and  travel  by 
night  as  easy  as  it  is  by  day.  Our  city  streets  are  now  five  times 
as  light  at  night  as  they  were  fifteen  years  ago,  and  the  public  do 
not  consider  a  street  half  lighted  if  there  is  not  enough  light  in  it 
anywhere  to  see  to  read. 


18 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL 

Out  in  the  woods,  where  the  tall  timber  points  heavenward, 
man  sometimes  seeks  solitude,  when  tired  of  the  turmoil  and  bustle, 
the  greed  and  the  gold-hunting,  of  much-habited  lands.  But  in 
these  days  he  must  wander  far  if  he  would  escape  the  sound  of 
the  woodman's  axe,  which  is  heard  alike  on  the  slopes  of  the  Rockies, 
in  the  South  African  jungle  and  the  xAustralian  bush,  along  the 
great  rivers  of  South  America,  and  in  the  wooded  preserves  of 
Europe.  Certain  animals,  as  the  beaver,  and  the  most  ignorant  of 
barbaric  races  of  men  both  use  timber,  and  it  was  man's  chief  re- 
source for  manufactured  articles  until  iron  became  so  plentiful  and 
cheap.  Yet  it  has  remained  for  civilized  men  to  cut  away  the  tim- 
ber supply  so  ruthlessly  that  the  attention  of  all  nations  has  been 
drawn  to  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  timber  by  wise  legislation. 
In  the  United  States  alone  an  army  of  200,000  men  is  occupied 
during  the  busy  winter  season  in  depleting  the  forests,  while  during 
the  dull  summer  season  about  100,000  are  continuing  the  work  of 
destruction. 

In  1900  the  lumber  business  ranked  as  the  fourth  largest  among 
the  great  manufacturing  industries  of  the  United  States.  The 
capital  invested  amounted  to  over  $600,000,000;  there  were  33,000 
concerns  or  companies  engaged  in  the  industry,  and  nearly  300,000 
wage  earners.  The  amount  of  lumber  produced  by  the  mills  during 
the  census  year  was  over  35,000,000,000  feet,  board  measure. 

The  lumber  business  is  divided  into  logging-camps,  saw-mills, 
and  planing-mills.  Of  the  total  capital  of  lumber-  and  saw-mills 
nearly  half  is  invested  in  the  logging  end  of  the  business,  but  this 
investment  is  very  largely  in  timber  land,  only  nineteen  per  cent,  of 
the  total  capital  in  the  industries  being  invested  in  saw-mill  plants, 
and  only  three  per  cent,  in  planing-mill  plants.  Thirty-five  per  cent,  is 
live  capital,  that  is  money  in  accounts  that  is  quickly  changing  hands. 
The  mills  of  the  North  Central  States  are  the  largest  and  have  the 
most  money  invested.  The  older  settled  States,  as  a  rule,  have  a 
smaller  investment  in  this  industry  than  those  of  recent  settlement, 
for  the  apparent  reason  that  most  of  the  lumber  is  already  cut  off  in 
the  older  States. 

Estimated  in  dollars,  Michigan  leads  all  the  other  States  in 
logging-camps  and  saw-mills,  though  Wisconsin  and  Pennsylvania 

274 


The  Lumber  Industry. 

I.  Loading  logs  on  steam  railway.  2.  Hauling  logs  by  trolley. 

3.  Transporting  lumber  by  road  engine. 


2/6 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


are  close  to  her,  and  both  of  these  exceed  her  in  the  value  of  planing- 
mills.  Minnesota  is  also  one  of  the  leading  States  in  the  industry, 
Indiana,  Washington,  Arkansas,  and  Ohio  following.  New  York 
State  is  conspicuous  in  the  industry  only  because  of  its  large  number 
of  planing-mills ;  not  much  lumber  is  cut  there,  but  more  lumber 
is  dressed  than  in  any  other  State  of  the  Union.  In  round  numbers, 
there  are  15,000  logging-camps  in  the  country,  32,000  saw-mills, 
and  10,000  planing-mills. 

About  one-twentieth  of  the  wooded  area  of  the  United  States 
is  owned  by  the  lumber  companies,  and  this  twentieth  contains  most 


Primitive  Luinberitig  in  Kentucky. 

of  the  best  standing  timber.  There  has  been  considerable  scandal 
at  one  time  or  another  as  to  the  methods  employed  by  lumbermen 
in  securing  control  of  land  formerly  owned  by  the  Government,  and 
doubtless  the  Government  gave  away  under  one  pretext  or  another 
millions  of  acres  of  good  timber  land  that  should  have  been  sold. 
For  twenty-one  years  there  was  in  existence  a  law  by  which  any 
person  cultivating  ten  acres  of  trees  for  a  certain  period  could  ac- 
quire title  to  160  acres  of  land,  and  under  this  law  about  fifty  million 
acres  of  timber  land  v^ere  taken  up,  very  much  of  which  subsequently 
passed  into  the  hands  of  lumber  corporations. 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL 


277 


The  older  States  were  the  first  to  recognize  the  necessity  of 
doing  something  to  preserve  the  forests.  In  1885  New  York  estab- 
Hshed  a  forest  preserve,  which  is  now  the  Forest,  Fish,  and  Game 
Commission,  but  this  does  Httle  more  than  preserve  the  Adirondack 
region  for  the  sportsmen.  A  few  years  since  Pennsylvania  provided 
for  the  purchase  of  120,000  acres  of  land  at  the  heads  of  the  three 
principal  river  sources,  in  order  to  preserve  the  standing  timber  and 
maintain  the  water  supply.  The  area  was  gradually  increased,  until 
the  State's  holdings  for  this  purpose  are  now  over  600,000  acres. 
Other  States  that  have  established  official  departments  to  care  for 


Timber  Tract  Destroyed  by  Fire. 

the  forests  are  Connecticut,  Indiana,  Kansas,  Maine,  Maryland, 
Michigan,  Minnesota,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  North  Caro- 
lina, Oregon,  West  Virginia,  and  Wisconsin.  A  non-political  or- 
ganization of  individuals  interested  has  been  formed  under  the  title 
of  The  American  Forestry  Association,  which  has  branches  in  most 
of  the  States  and  head-quarters  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

In  1 89 1  Congress  authorized  the  President  to  constitute  forest 
preserves,  and  Presidents  Harrison,  Cleveland,  McKinley,  and 
Roosevelt  have  each  acted  under  the  bill,  until,  in  1903,  the  total 
area  of  forest  preserves  totalled  over  62,000,000  acres.  Several 
States  have  passed  laws  designed  to  prevent  forest  fires,  and  Minne- 


278 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


sota.  New  York,  and  a  few  other  States  have  fire-wardens,  whose 
business  it  is  to  see  that  the  laws  are  enforced,  or  that  those  who 
infringe  them  are  punished.  Action  of  this  sort  is  doing  something 
to  preserve  what  Httle  forest  land  the  State  and  national  government 
control. 

The  chief  species  of  timber  cut  for  lumber  in  the  United  States 
are  the  white  pine,  common  in  New  England  and  New  York  and 
along  the  great  lakes  to  Minnesota;  spruce,  found  mainly  in  New 
England  and  New  York,  although  existing  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain region ;  hemlock,  occupying  much  the  same  range  as  white 
pine ;  cypress,  found  along  the  Gulf  coasts  and  in  marshy  regions 
along  the  Atlantic ;    Southern  yellow  pine,  growing  principally  in 


Section  of  Lumber  Flume  in  "Big  Tree"  District  of  California. 
(Largest  in  the  world,  seventy-one  miles  long.) 

the  Gulf  States ;  Western  yellow  pine,  growing  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains and  on  the  Pacific  coast ;  sugar  pine,  found  mainly  on  the 
western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains ;  red  fir,  growing  in 
Western  Oregon  and  Washington ;  redwood,  growing  in  a  narrow 
strip  close  to  the  Pacific  coast  in  California.  To  these  may  be 
added  the  hard  ^^•oods — oak,  poplar,  maple,  elm,  and  ash — growing 
principally  in  the  interior  States.  Of  these  latter  nearly  two-thirds 
of  the  quantity  cut  is  oak. 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL 


279 


Pine  furnishes  the  largest  cut,  and  the  white  pine  of  the  United 
States  is  giving  out ;  however,  the  yehow  pine  standing  is  sufficient 
to  last  for  another  thirty  years  at  the  present  rate  of  depletion.  The 
saw-mills  of  the  country  cut  up  annually  thirty-five  billion  feet  of 
rough  lumber,  and  over  twelve  billion  feet  go  into  shingles.  The 
railway  ties  cut  annually  amount  to  23,000,000  in  number,  of  a  value 
of  over  $6,000,000,  while  the  million  of  telegraph  poles  produced 
are  worth  $1,400,000.  The  charcoal  industry  requires  7,000,000 
bushels,  and  the  tanners  and  others  take  half  a  million  cords  of  hem- 
lock bark. 

In  cutting  trees  in  the  forest,  felling  is  accomplished  mainly 
by  sawing  from  the  upper  side  of  the  tree  and  chopping  upon  the 
lower  side,  meaning  the  side  towards  which  the  tree  falls.  After  the 
tree  is  down,  it  is  cut  into  lengths  suitable  for  handling  by  means 
of  great  cross-cut  saws  in  the  hands  of  two  men.  It  is  astonishing 
how  expert  men  become  in  severing  huge  logs,  two  of  them  cutting 
a  three-foot  log  through  in  a  few  minutes,  seemingly  without  undue 
exertion. 

The  first  timber  of  a  country  is  cut  near  the  streams,  because 
it  is  easy  to  float  it  out.  x\s  the  cutting  works  farther  away,  the 
logs  are  sent  on  skids  and  flumes  to  the  rivers,  then  light  logging- 
railways  are  built,  and  finally,  as  the  work  is  more  and  more  re- 
moved from  the  water-ways,  the  hauling  is  clone  on  established  lines 
of  railway,  many  railroads  deriving  a  large  part  of  their  income  in 
their  earlier  years  from  hauling  logs. 

In  very  many  places,  where  lumber  is  cut  on  mountain  slopes 
or  the  like,  where  there  are  streams,  the  lumbermen  build  a  flume 
or  rough  artificial  waterway,  into  which  a  stream  is  directed,  the 
flow  serving  to  carry  down  the  logs.  When  there  is  plenty  of  water 
in  the  flume  the  logs  go  booming  along  at  tremendous  speeds  to 
some  place  of  deposit,  usually  a  river.  Probably  the  longest  of  these 
flumes  is  in  the  great  redwood  forests  of  , California.  It  is  fifty- 
three  miles  in  length,  and  has,  in  addition,  feeders  or  branches 
eighteen  miles  long.  It  is  built  of  two-inch  planks,  arranged  in 
V  form,  the  width  across  the  top  being  three  and  one-half  feet.  It 
cost  $275,000  to  construct,  using  5,700,000  feet  of  lumber.  A  man 
at  the  tops  of  each  of  the  feeders  to  start  the  logs,  and  a  man  at  each 
junction,  and  one  at  the  outlet  are  all  the  help  required  to  operate 
this  flume,  which  has  a  carrying  capacity  of  400,000  feet  of  lumber 
daily. 

The  traction  engine  has  become  an  important  feature  in  hand- 
ling lumber  on  the  Pacific  coast.      In  sections  where  the  traffic  is 


28o 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


not  great  enough  to  afford  the  building  of  a  railway,  and  there  is 
no  convenient  waterway  that  can  be  used,  the  traction  engine  is 
employed  on  roads  built  largely  for  the  purpose,  and  hauls  lumber- 


cars  at  a  speed  of  two  or  three  miles  an  hour,  taking  as  much  as  fifty 
or  sixty  tons  of  logs  in  a  train.  The  route  of  the  traction  engine 
begins  in  the  forest  where  the  logs  are  cut,   or  where  they  are 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL  281 

dropped  by  a  skidway,  and  the  engine  power  is  utilized  to  load  the 
logs  on  the  trucks  which  serve  as  cars,  for  it  must  be  understood 
that  a  logging-car  is  usually  nothing  more  than  a  pair  of  wheeled 
trucks,  on  which  long  logs  can  be  carried. 

One  of  the  simplest  and  most  useful  devices  of  the  lumbermen 
for  handling  logs  is  the  skidway,  which  consists  of  logs  laid  on  the 
ground  in  such  fashion  that  other  logs  can  be  slid  along  them. 
The  illustration  shows  one  operated  by  mule  power.  In  a  steam 
log-skidding  system  a  strong  steel  cable  is  suspended  from  two  large 
trees,  perhaps  seven  hundred  feet  apart,  and  upon  this  cable  is  a 
travelling  engine,  sometimes  called  a  skidding  engine.  The  logs 
are  fastened  with  a  hoisting  rope  assisted  by  grappling-tongs.  and 
then  the  engine  travels  along,  partially  hoisting  the  log.  whose 
forward  end  is  swung  into  the  air  and  dragged  or  skidded  along  the 
cableway  to  the  point  where  the  loading  is  done. 

A  slightly  different  method  of  hauling  logs  is  employed  in 
many  Western  sections.  A  skidway  or  runway  being  provided 
along  which  the  logs  can  slide,  a  hauling-engine  is  located  at  one 
end  with  a  drum  and  perhaps  several  thousand  feet  of  wire  rope. 
By  this  means  the  logs  can  be  hauled  easily  and  cheaply  along  the 
skidway,  especially  in  the  winter,  when  it  is  covered  with  ice.  All 
lumbermen  in  the  Northern  States  take  more  or  less  advantage  of 
the  winter  season  with  its  snow  and  ice,  as  affording  means  for 
running  log  sleds.  A  team  of  horses  will  haul  a  surprising  number 
of  logs  along  a  road  that  in  the  winter  season  is  smoothed  over  with 
ice,  though  quite  rough  in  summer. 

In  swampy  sections,  as  Louisiana,  what  are  termed  pull-boats 
are  sometimes  used,  these  employing  endless  ropes  and  winding 
drums,  by  which  the  logs  are  drawn  out  of  the  swamp  to  a  place 
where  they  can  be  floated.  When  the  logs  are  brought  to  a  river, 
they  are  then  usually  floated  down  to  form  a  raft.  The  handling 
of  logs  in  rivers  is  picturesque  and  ofttimes  dangerous,  for  when 
the  logs  jam  together,  stopping  a  stream,  it  becomes  necessary  for 
the  lumbermen  to  walk  over  them  and  find  the  log  or  logs  that 
require  to  be  cut  away  in  order  to  break  the  jam.  When  these  are 
found,  and  the  cutting  begins,  the  lumberman  must  recognize  when 
he  has  cut  to  the  point  W'here  the  log  will  break  in  another  instant, 
and  he  must  then  run  for  his  life. 

When  the  logs  reach  some  harbor  on  the  ocean  they  are  made 
into  rafts,  some  of  which  are  of  enormous  size.  At  Puget  Sound 
a  raft  has  been  built  so  large  that  a  force  of  men  were  kept  busy 
for  eight  months  in  tying  it  together  with  chains,  at  a  cost  of 
$30,000, 


282  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

A  good  deal  of  log-cutting  and  transportation  is  done  without 
due  regard  to  any  future  crop  of  timber.  Often  the  snakeways  for 
dragging  out  logs  are  more  numerous  than  is  necessary,  and  some- 
times big  logs  are  sent  recklessly  down  a  slope,  killing  off  hundreds 
of  tree-sprouts.  A  log  three  or  four  feet  thick  acquires  tremendous 
momentum  in  going  down  hill,  and  is  capable  of  cutting  off  and 
destroying  fair-sized  young  trees.  The  young  growth  is  more 
subject  to  damage  in  regions  where  there  is  no  snow  than  in  the 
colder  climes.  As  timber  becomes  scarcer,  more  attention  is  being 
given  to  these  evils,  and  popular  sentiment  and  legislation  are 
both  directed  towards  the  stimulation  of  tree-planting  and  general 
encouragement  of  tree-growing. 

Considerable  standing  timber  is  annually  destroyed  by  fire, 
some  of  these  forest  blazes  being  the  result  of  accident,  'but  more 
frequently  resulting  from  the  practice  among  farmers  of  burning 
over  land  in  the  fall,  with  the  notion  that  this  will  produce  better 
pasturage  the  following  year.  Such  fires  often  spread  to  the  forests 
on  mountain  slopes,  and  burn  for  days  and  weeks  until  extinguished 
by  some  heavy  rainstorm. 

MHiere  an  intelligent  effort  is  made  to  preserve  or  improve  a 
forest,  and  at  the  same  time  make  it  yield  timber,  success  has  met 
the  efforts  of  the  foresters.  The  least  desirable  growth  can  be  cut 
out,  giving  more  chance  for  the  better  trees  to  increase.  An  experi- 
ment made  on  the  Biltmore  estate,  near  Asheville,  North  Carolina, 
demonstrated  that  it  was  possible  to  secure  3000  cords  of  firewood 
annually  from  4000  acres,  and  yet  to  improve  the  standing  timber 
every  year. 

It  is  impossible  to  predict  when  the  timber  supply  of  the  United 
States  will  be  so  depleted  that  various  industries  will  begin  to  suffer 
from  timber  famine.  There  is  no  positive  knowledge  as  to  the  sup- 
ply in  the  country,  nor  do  we  know  how  soon  public  measures  will 
be  adopted  that  will  tend  to  preserve  and  protect  the  forests.  We 
do  know  that  some  sorts  of  timber  are  giving-  out,  as  native  black 
walnut,  which  is  no  longer  to  be  had;  and  first-growth  white  pine, 
which  is  scarcer  every  year;  and  that  spruce  fit  for  pulp  wood  will 
not  continue  to  supply  the  enormous  demands  from  the  paper- 
mills.  Notwithstanding",  there  is  no  general  movement  looking  to 
the  conservation  of  the  timber  supply,  and  the  growing  of  new  tim- 
ber to  replace  that  which  is  cut,  yet  the  matter  has  been  agitated 
and  discussed,  and  the  continued  rise  in  the  price  of  lumber  will 
sooner  or  later  have  its  effect  and  change  conditions  in  the  United 
States,  as  they  have  been  changed  in  the  older  countries  of  Europe. 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL 


283 


Over  there  enormous  saw-mills  are  unknown,  because  there  is 
no  great  timber  supply  in  one  place  to  feed  them.  When  our  timber 
is  more  reduced,  the  great  saw-mills  must  fall  away  and  be  replaced 
by  small  concerns  with  a  capacity  suited  to  the  regular  annual  pro- 
duction of  the  forests  on  which  they  depend.  The  mammoth  milling 
plant  cannot  exist  on  a  second  growth  of  timber,  because  the  adja- 
cent land  cannot  produce  enough  large  logs  within  a  given  number 
of  years.  It  developed  in  this  country  because  lumber  concerns  were 
able  to  gain  control  of  large  tracts  of  heavy  timber,  but  as  these  are 
cut  away,  the  death-knell  is  sounded  for  the  milling  plant,  and  the 
prosperity  of  a  few  years  is  sure  to  be  replaced  by  stagnation  for 
many  years  afterwards. 


A  Typical  Western  Lumber-Mill. 

A  fair  illustration  of  the  growth  of  American  saw-mills  is  fur- 
nished by  the  mill  at  Lewiston,  Maine,  which  is  one  of  the  oldest 
in  the  country.  It  was  built  in  1 770  as  an  annex  to  a  grist-mill,  and 
later  it  was  destroyed,  but  rebuilt  in  1808,  and  enlarged  in  1814. 
An  entirely  new  mill  was  constructed  in  1851  at  a  cost  of  $7000. 
This  gave  way  in  1865  to  a  mill  costing,  with  building,  land,  and 
tools,  a  total  of  $60,000.     This  mill  was  equipped  with  gang  and 


284  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

circular  saws,  and  some  approach  to  modern  conveniences.  To-day 
the  Lewiston  Steam-Mill  Company  has  a  large  plant,  which  at  a 
guess  valuation  is  perhaps  worth  $200,000. 

The  Di\'ision  of  Forestry  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  has  gi\'en  some  attention  to  the  testing  of  the  physical 
properties  of  timber,  with  a  view  to  determining  its  average  strength 
for  structural  purposes.  Some  45,000  tests  were  made  up  to  1896, 
when  the  work  was  interrupted ;  but  it  is  expected  that  further  tests 
will  yet  be  obtained,  as  the  Forestry  Department  in  1902  announced 
its  intention  of  taking  up  the  work  again.  These  will  be  valuable, 
for  as  one  class  of  timber  begins  to  give  out,  and  prices  rise  in  con- 
sequence, builders  have  to  substitute  other  kinds,  and  there  should 
be  a  central  source  of  reliable  information  as  to  all  the  native  woods. 
Tests  of  this  sort  have  been  made  in  Europe  at  various  places  and 
times  for  more  than  a  century. 

For  sawing  logs  into  lumber  the  steam  circular  sawing-machine 
is  universally  used,  but  in  place  of  the  single  large  saw  formerly 
employed,  a  double  sav/  is  now  preferred,  the  log  being  carried 
against  two  saws  set  in  the  same  plane,  and  cutting  from  opposite 
sides  at  the  same  time.  This  method  has  two  advantages — the  saw- 
ing is  done  more  quickly  and  the  kerf  or  cut  made  in  the  lumber 
is  thinner,  thus  reducing  the  amount  wasted  in  sawdust.  One  saw 
is  set  slightly  in  the  rear  of  the  other,  so  that  their  teeth  may  not 
clash,  and  they  rotate  in  the  same  direction,  though  they  cut  in  oppo- 
site directions  on  the  log,  as  one  is  above  and  the  other  below. 

The  machines  that  reduce  the  logs  to  the  larger  sizes  of  lumber 
are  termed  log-sawing  machines,  and  those  employed  in  planing- 
mills  and  by  local  lumber  dealers  to  reduce  their  lumber  to  such 
smaller  sizes  as  their  trade  demands  are  termed  resawing  machines. 
These  are  smaller  and  lighter  than  the  log-machines.  For  miscel- 
laneous and  special  work  there  are  a  hundred  or  more  special  forms 
of  saws,  only  a  few  of  which  space  will  permit  describing  here. 

When  large  circular  saws  first  came  into  use  much  difficulty 
was  experienced  with  them,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  outer  edge 
was  apt  to  become  heated,  so  that  the  expansion  and  the  centrifugal 
force  together  would  cause  the  circular  edge  to  break  ofif.  This  diffi- 
culty has  been  overcome  in  a  measure  by  hammering  the  circular 
saw  throughout  its  central  portion,  the  hammering  being  heaviest 
towards  the  centre,  thus  giving  a  tendency  to  expansion  throughout 
the  whole  saw,  and  permitting  the  periphery  to  expand  with  heat, 
without  breaking  away  from  the  rest  of  the  saw. 

The  steam-feed  has  proven  one  of  the  most  valuable  improve- 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL 


285 


ments  that  have  been  made  in  saw-mills  in  recent  years;  this  type 
of  feed  has  also  been  styled  the  shotgun  feed.  A  long-bladed  saw  is 
attached  directly  to  the  piston  of  a  steam-engine,  the  steam-cylinder 
for  this  purpose  being  made  unusually  long,  so  that  the  saw  is  given 
a  long  stroke,  which  may  be  very  rapid.  This  principle  has  been 
adapted  to  several  minor  devices  in  the  saw-mill,  thus  supplying  the 
steam-power  very  directly  to  the  work. 

The  various  forms  of  planing-machines  are  mostly  manufac- 
tured with  rotating  cutter-heads,  which  serve  the  purpose  of  a  hand- 
plane  in  smoothing  the  lumber  and  bringing  it  to  an  even  thickness. 


A  Single-Saw  Reiawing  Machine. 

For  edging  the  cutters  are  short,  and  arranged  to  smooth  the  edges 
of  boards  or  planks.  The  matching-machine  is  an  edger  wdth  a 
device  for  tonguing  and  grooving  the  board.  For  forming  orna- 
mental or  curved  edges,  moulding-machines  are  employed. 

For  the  descriptions  and  illustrations  of  the  following  machines 
used  in  the  planing-mill,  and  by  wood-workers  generally,  the  writer 
is  indebted  to  the  H.  B.  Smith  Machine  Company,  of  Smithville, 
New  Jersey. 

The  flooring-machine  is  supplied  with  a  fast  feed,  and  not  only 
dresses  the  lumber,  but  cuts  the  match  or  tongue-and-groove  on  the 


286 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


edges  of  the  Ijoards.  In  the  machine  shown  there  is  a  chip-breaker 
placed  before  the  cnt,  and  this,  together  with  the  cutter-heads,  is 
made  adjustable.       The   feed   is   variable,   owing  to   an   ingenious 


A  Swing-Saw. 


arrangement  of  friction  drive.  Planing-  and  matching-machines  in 
great  variety  are  made  on  very  similar  principles,  the  lumber  being 
fed  in  between  rollers  and  guided  to  cutters. 

Machines  for  smoothing  or  planing  lumber  are  known  as  sur- 


F^ROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL 


287 


facers,  and  the  double  surfacer  shown  is  designed  to  finish  wood  for 
cabmet  work;    it  can  be  used  to  feed  many  narrow  pieces  of  stock 


chf^"^'' 


A  Resawing  Band-Saw. 

at  one  time.     A  variety  of  other  forms  of  cabinet  and  smoothing 
surfacers  are  manufactured. 

Hand-planing  machines  are  commonly  known  as  jointers,  and 
are  built  for  the  use  of  small  carpenters,  etc. 


288 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Machines  for  making  wood  mouldings,  or  panelling  or  pro- 
filing wood,  are  commonly  known  as  moulding-machines.     These 


A  Saw-Tauit. 


acomplish  their  work  by  means  of  peculiar  forms  of  cutters.  Many 
special  moulding-machines  are  made  for  such  work  as  cutting  wash- 
boards, grooving  window-sashes,  and  the  like. 


<^=S5t^-7»;? 


Wood-Moulding  Machine. 


Combined    rabbeting-,    beading-,    and    jointing-machines    are 
made  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  lumber  so  that  it  can  be  joined  by 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL 


289 


rabbeting — that  is,  by  means  of  cut  grooves  or  rectangular  notches, 
a  bead  being  cut  at  the  joint. 

One  of  the  most  recent  improved  forms  of  tenoning-machine 


Double-Surfacing  Machine. 


for  cabinet-makers  is  double  ended.  The  cutter-heads  are  adjustable 
by  a  single  screw  for  making  any  thickness  of  tenon.  This  machine 
will  cut  a  piece  of  wood  on  both  ends  into  any  of  a  great  variety 


Triple-Drum  Sanding -Machine. 


of  forms  desirable  in  box-making  or  cabinet-making,  for  joining 
together. 

A  quadruple  mortising-  and  boring-machine  is  manufactured 

19 


290 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


that,  as  its  name  implies,  will  perform  four  operations  at  one  time, 
as  mortising  two  slots  and  boring  two  holes.  It  is  capable  of  cut- 
ting 3500  mortises,  and  boring  as  many  more  holes,  in  a  single 
hour,  and  will  work  lumber  as  long  as  nine  feet,  making  mortises 
three  inches  long  if  necessary.  The  upright  mortiser  is  a  favorite 
machine  that  is  often  made  in  combination  with  a  boring-machine. 
There  is  also  manufactured  an  endless-chain  mortiser  that  cuts 
grooves  with  astonishing  rapidity. 

Among  resawing  machines  the  band  type  is  popular,  one  being 
shown  here  that  is  made  with  metal  wheels  of  fifty-four  inches  diam- 


Fast-Feed  Flooring-Machine. 

eter,  covered  with  rubber  or  the  like  to  protect  the  blade  and  prevent 
slippage.  When  these  are  used  on  heavy  work,  a  saw-deflector  is 
added  to  keep  the  blade  in  line.  A  somewhat  similar  but  lighter 
band-saw  is  manufactured  for  scroll-cutting.  Straight  saws  are 
made  for  special  work  and  for  hand  use.  The  jig-saw,  hack-saw, 
and  various  small  saws  are  of  this  type. 

The  gang  ripping-  and  edging-machine  is  used  in  saw-mills 
for  edging  boards  and  planks  and  for  sawing  boards  into  flooring, 
joist,  scantling,  etc.  A  special  machine  is  also  manufactured  for 
cutting  laths  and  pickets  in  gangs. 


FROM    LOGGING-CAMP    TO    PLANING-MILL  291 

For  general  miscellaneous  work,  as  in  a  carpenter  shop,  the 
universal  saw-bench  is  commonly  employed,  this  being  a  table  with 
a  top  adjustable  to  various  inclinations,  and  having  a  circular  saw 
protruding  through  the  top.  The  swing-saw,  which  may  be  hung 
from  a  ceiling,  is  a  very  convenient  tool,  having  numerous  uses. 
Sand-papering  machines,  more  commonly  known  as  sanders,  are 
made  for  smoothing  wood,  the  sand-paper  being  attached  to  a 
wooden  rotating  drum ;  there  are  also  special  forms  of  sanders  for 
special  work. 

Boring-machines  are  made  in  a  great  variety  of  forms,  as  are 
also  routers.  Special  carving-machines  are  manufactured  which 
will  turn  out  a  variety  of  rosettes  and  other  geometrical  designs  for 
ornaments.  For  further  information  along  these  lines  the  reader  is 
referred  to  manufacturers'  catalogues  of  wood-working  machinery. 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


There  is  nothing  elevating  about  a  mine  except  the  hoist  that 
takes  one  out  of  it.  All  the  words  in  the  language  that  suggest 
going  below  the  surface  indicate  that  it  is  an  unpleasant  if  not  a 
degrading  thing.  Man  loves  to  rise  and  soar,  and  not  to  descend, 
grovel,  sink,  go  down,  etc.  All  the  similes  and  suggestions  con- 
nected with  excavation  and  mining  are  of  this  "  low"  character.  Yet 
there  is  no  more  romantic  occupation  than  that  of  seeking  after 
mineral  wealth  by  mining.  Coal-mining  is  desolate,  dirty,  and  pro- 
saic enough,  but  getting  out  the  paying  ore  from  a  Comstock  lode, 


Courtesy  The  Macmillan  Company. 


A  Mine-Shaft  Station  at  Kimberley. 


or  plucking  diamonds  from  a  Kimberley  bed,  savors  so  strongly  of 
riches  as  to  fire  the  imagination  and  cupidity  of  the  world. 

When  it  was  learned  that  there  was  plenty  of  gold  in  Alaska 
to  be  had  for  the  digging,  there  were  clerks  who  left  their  desks, 
artisans  who  dropped  their  tools,  business  men  who  cashed  in  their 
holdings,  loafers,  desperadoes,  and  all  types  of  men  in  thousands 
who  turned  their  faces  to  the  new  Eldorado  and  risked  all  on  the 
chances  of  the  future. 

Gold  is  found  chiefly  in  veins  of  quartz  rocks,  or  in  placer 

292 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH  293 

deposits.  The  important  gold-mining  centres  of  the  world  are  in 
Western  Australia,  the  Transvaal,  Africa;  in  Russia  and  British 
Columbia,  and  in  the  United  States  at  Cripple  Creek,  the  Black  Hills 
of  South  Dakota,  and  in  Alaska,  California,  Montana,  Arizona,  and 
Utah.  The  search  for  gold  has  ever  been  regarded  as  full  of  hard- 
ship and  privation,  since  mines  are  discovered  invariably  in  new 
countries,  and  the  prospector  is  subjected  to  all  the  difficulties  of 
accomplishing  work  in  a  territory  where  there  is  no  established 
means  of  transportation  and  where  machinery  and  supplies  have 
to  be  brought  from  great  distances. 

The  largest  single  gold  nugget  ever  found  was  picked  up  at 
the  Kingowar  diggings  near  Melbourne,  Australia,  in  1857  by  Sam- 
uel W.  Napier,  who  subsequently  lost  his  wealth  and  died  miserably 
in  a  Canadian  lumber-camp.  Napier  and  his  brother  were  working 
a  small  36-foot  claim,  and  this  is  his  own  story  of  the  find : 

"  We  had  got  down  to  the  pipe  clay  bottom,  which  marked  the  bed  of  an 
ancient  river,  when  my  pick  struck  something  hard.  I  knew  at  once  it  wasn't  a 
boulder,  for  there  was  not  the  same  ring  to  it.  It  struck  dead.  Scraping  away 
the  dirt  I  caught  sight  of  the  bright  yellow  of  pure  gold.  We  were  afraid  that 
some  one  would  learn  of  what  we  had  found  and  rob  us.  We  therefore  covered 
it  with  loose  dirt  and  sat  down  to  plan.  We  discussed  scheme  after  scheme 
until  we  worked  ourselves  into  a  great  state  of  anxiety.  We  finally  decided  to 
borrow  a  tub  and  cautiously  wheel  it  to  our  camp,  taking  turns  at  wheeling  and 
agreeing  that  if  any  one  spoke  to  us  one  was  to  stop  and  talk  and  the  other 
was  to  wheel  right  along.  Just  about  dusk  we  landed  the  nugget  in  the  tent. 
We  threw  it  under  one  of  the  low  beds  and  sat  down  to  wait  until  midnight. 
Early  in  the  night  we  put  out  our  light  and  pretended  to  go  to  bed.  Instead, 
with  pick  and  shovel  we  dug  a  hole  six  feet  deep  right  in  the  middle  of  our 
tent ;  there  we  buried  the  nugget  and  filled  in  the  earth  so  as  to  not  leave  a 
trace  of  our  work.  No  one  had  seen  the  nugget  but  ourselves,  and  it  was  now 
buried  six  feet  deep  out  of  sight. 

"  But  a  nugget  six  feet  deep  was  no  use  to  us.  We  must  get  it  to  Mel- 
bourne. There  was  plenty  of  time  for  that,  and,  besides,  there  might  be  other 
nuggets  in  our  claim.  We  went  to  work  every  day  and  left  the  tent  open  to 
avert  suspicion.  For  three  months  the  nugget  lay  there  buried  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  we  washed  out  our  claim.  We  found  a  number  of  nuggets  in  the 
same  hole,  one  of  which  weighed  eight  pounds.  Armed  with  a  shotgun  and 
revolver,  we  started  in  a  one-horse  cart  and  in  due  time  reached  Melbourne. 
Next  day  we  deposited  the  nugget  in  the  bank  and  our  fears  were  at  an  end. 
The  news  spread  like  wildfire  and  thousands  rushed  to  the  Kingowar  gold  fields. 
While  in  Melbourne  we  named  the  nugget  the  Blanche  Barclay,  in  honor  of  the 
beautiful  daughter  of  the  governor,  and  by  that  name  the  model  in  the  British 
Museum  is  yet  known.  The  bank  gave  us  an  insurance  of  $50,000  for  the  safe 
delivery  of  the  nugget  in  London,  and  we  sailed  for  England. 

"  When  we  arrived  the  papers  wrote  up  the  story  of  the  nugget  and  we  at 
once  became  famous.  The  queen  sent  for  us  and  we  dined  in  Buckingham 
palace.  We  drove  down  from  the  Bank  of  England  under  heavy  escort,  taking 
the  nugget  with  us.  Her  majesty  and  the  Prince  Consort  received  us  most 
graciously,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  was  a  lad  of  fifteen  years  then,  showed 
a  very  deep  interest  in  the  nugget.     I  do  not  wonder  at  that,  for  it  was  one  of 


294 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


the  prettiest  sights  one  could  see.  It  was  23.7  carats  fine,  or  as  nearly  absolutely 
pure  gold  as  is  possible  to  get.  Then  the  nugget  was  put  on  exhibition  at  the 
Crystal  Palace,  for  which  privilege  we  were  paid  $250  a  week.  We  lived  in 
a  swell  house  on  the  Surrey  side.  This  lasted  for  three  months,  during  which 
time  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  had  a  cast  made  of  the  nugget  for  the  British 
Museum.     The  work  was  so  perfectly  done  by  an  Italian  that  you  couldn't  tell 


one  from  ihc  <itiicr  until  you  lifted  them.  He  gave  me  a  duplicate.  Finally  we 
sold  the  nugget  for  $60,000.  It  was  not  worth  more  than  $50,000  intrinsically, 
but  being  the  largest  and  finest  gold  nugget  ever  found  we  got  $10,000  more  for 
it  than  its  real  value." 


In  order  to  afford  an  idea  of  what  is  required  in  mining  gold 
or  silver,  it  is  well  to  enumerate  the  more  important  machinery 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


295 


required  for  prospecting.  A  moderate  outfit  would  be  that  for  a 
three-stamp  mill  for  use  in  prospecting.  The  stamps  would  be  about 
250  pounds  each,  operating  in  a  battery  driven  by  a  little  upright 


A  Steam-Stamp. 


steam-engine.  With  these  would  be  required  a  lot  of  duplicate 
parts,  a  complete  set  of  water-pipes  and  valves,  also  rubber  hose 
and  a  set  of  copper  plates  for  washing,  besides  a  lot  of  minor  items. 
Such  outfits  are  manufactured  so  that  they  can  be  taken  apart  and 


296 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


transported  on  muleback,  in  order  that  they  can  be  erected  anywhere, 
regardless  of  roads. 


Sand-Pumps. 


When  the  prospector  has  developed  a  vein  of  paying  ore,  he 
requires  very  much  improved  machinery,   and  a  good  battery  of 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH  297 

Stamps  or  a  steam-stamp  are  required  for  breaking  up  the  ore, 
or,  if  it  is  a  large  mine,  several  batteries  will  be  required.  In  a 
typical  gold-mill  the  ore  is  rolled  in  on  a  tramway  and  dumped 
into  the  upper  story  of  the  mill,  descending  to  the  lower  floors  as 
it  passes  through  the  different  processes  of  crushing,  stamping,  and 
washing. 

In  getting  out  the  ore  in  the  mine  the  process  is  simple  drilling 
and  blasting,  but  in  successful  mines  there  is  a  large  amount  of 
improved  machinery  as  hoists,  pumps,  fans,  air-compressors,  etc. 
Compressed  air  is  being  used  in  many  mines  to  operate  drills  and 
other  tools,  and  has  the  advantage  that  the  exhaust  air  serves  to 
improve  the  ventilation.  Considerable  electric  machinery  is  also 
coming  into  use.  The  large  blocks  of  ore  are  crushed  in  a  grizzly 
or  other  breaking  machine,  so  that  they  are  made  small  enough  to 
be  handled  in  the  steam-stamp.  The  richer  ore  is  most  easily  sepa- 
rated, and  one  of  the  important  problems  before  gold-miners  to-day 
is  the  extraction  of  all  the  gold  from  low-grade  ores.  There  are 
two  familiar  methods, — the  cyanide  and  the  chlorination  process. 
The  cyanide  process  is  not  well  adapted  to  the  recovery  of  coarse 
gold,  but  is  desirable  in  the  treatment  of  certain  auriferous  ores. 
It  is  based  on  the  chemical  reaction  resulting  from  contact  of  weak 
solutions  of  cyanide  of  potassium  with  gold  in  the  presence  of 
oxygen. 

A  rough  idea  of  the  process  perhaps  can  be  best  obtamed  by 
giving  a  short  description  of  the  plant  of  the  Dakota  Mining  Com- 
pany. Here  the  ore  is  crushed  with  a  solution  of  two  pounds 
of  cyanide  to  the  ton.  The  pulp  that  comes  from  the  batteries  is 
raised  by  a  great  sand-pump  to  the  launders  feeding  the  separator- 
boxes,  where  the  sands  and  slimes  are  separated.  The  slimes  and 
the  overflow  go  to  the  slime-vats,  while  the  sands  are  discharged 
into  other  vats,  where  they  are  leached  and  then  discharged  into 
still  lower  vats.  The  sand-vats  are  charged  once  a  day  by  the 
separator-boxes,  and  the  pulp  is  leached  with  a  solution  of  four 
pounds  of  cyanide  to  the  ton,  followed  by  a  weaker  solution  of  one- 
half  this  strength.  The  slimes  are  treated  with  a  solution  of  slacked 
lime  and  allowed  to  settle,  after  which  the  pulp  is  drawn  off  at  the 
bottom  and  there  is  another  period  of  settling,  more  lime  being 
added.  This  circulation  and  settling  are  repeated  several  times  dur- 
ing a  period  of  about  one  week.  The  precipitation  is  carried  on  in 
zinc  boxes,  from  which  they  are  sluiced  to  the  acid-treatment  tank, 
after  which  the  metal  is  filtered,  washed,  dried,  and  smelted. 

The  chlorination  process  consists  in  charging  the  ore,  after  it 


298 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


has  been  pulverized,  roasted  and  moistened,  into  tanks,  coated  with 
tar,  or  sometimes  lead-lined.  These  tanks  have  filter-bed  bottoms, 
and  after  a  tank  has  been  carefully  closed  and  sealed,  chlorine  gas 
is  admitted  to  the  ore,  which  it  permeates,  converting  the  particles 
of  gold  into  soluble  trichloride.  After  several  days'  treatment  in 
the  chlorine  tank,  the  gold-bearing  solution  is  directed  to  settling 
tanks,  and  the  fine  slimes  are  leached  out,  after  which  the  top  liquor 
is  carried  off  to  precipitating  tanks,  where  the  precipitation  is 
assisted  by  the  addition  of  ferrous  sulphate,  or  hydrogen  sulphide 
and  sulphurous  acid  gases.     When  the  precipitation  is  complete,  the 


Courtesy  Diamond  Kuck  Drill  Con 


A  Diamond  Prospecting  Dril 


liquid  is  drained  off  and  the  precipitate  washed  with  hot  water  to 
free  it  from  the  iron  salts.  After  this  cleaning  it  is  dried,  and  may 
be  melted  into  gold  bars. 

The  barrel  process  of  chlorination  is  now  often  preferred  to  the 
vat  process,  which  has  just  been  described.  In  this  lead-lined  ro- 
tating barrels  are  substituted  for  the  vats,  and  woven  asbestos  cloth 
is  used  for  the  filter. 

Placer  mining  consists  in  washing  out  the  gold  from  sand  and 
gravel  that  have  been  washed  down  from  ore-bearing  rocks  during 
previous  ages.  Where  the  ore  is  rich,  gold  can  be  recovered  from 
the  sand  with  the  simplest  sort  of  pan  for  washing,  the  weight  of 
the  gold  grains  making  it  easy  to  separate  them  from  the  sand ;   but 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH  299 

for  working  larger  areas,  where  the  percentage  of  gold  is  small,  as 
perhaps  twenty-five  cents  to  the  cubic  yard,  the  best  machinery  is 
essential  to  securing  a  profit.  Such  gold-bearing  sands  are  apt  to 
accumulate  in  the  bottoms  of  streams  and  rivers,  and  expensive 
dredges  are  necessary  in  order  to  gather  the  sand  from  the  river- 
bottoms  so  that  it  may  be  passed  through  amalgamators,  to  save  all 
the  light  fine  gold. 

The  Klondike  fever  came  in  1897,  and  the  fame  of  the  Nome 
mining  district  followed  in  1898.  The  Nome  mining  region  com- 
prises a  mountainous  section,  including  the  greater  part  of  the 
Seward  Peninsula.  The  whole  country  has  evidently  been  subjected 
in  bygone  ages  to  violent  volcanic  disturbances,  as  the  rocks  lie  in 
planes  at  all  angles,  and  faults,  that  is  breaks  in  the  direction  of  a 
vein,  are  extremely  common.  Gold  is  found  in  the  gneiss  and  mica 
schists,  but  was  first  discovered  in  the  beach  sands. 


All  Electric  Mine  Locomodve. 


The  rush  to  Nome  was  at  its  height  in  1900,  when  the  popu- 
lation was  40,000 ;  to-day  the  population  is  not  over  seven  or  eight 
thousand.  Most  of  the  crowd  that  arrived  in  that  year  found 
that  everything  that  was  worth  claiming  had  been  claimed,  and 
that  the  richest  deposits  on  the  beach  which  were  the  easiest  to 
secure  were  already  beginning  to  give  out.  The  claims  staked  and 
allowed  at  Nome  were  extremely  large,  running  from  600  to  1300 
square  feet,  but  this  was  later  checked,  and  no  man  was  allowed  to 
claim  more  ground  that  he  could  work. 

The  year  1899  was  the  best  for  taking  gold  from  the  beach, 
the  $2,000,000  output  of  Nome  in  that  year  including  rather  more 
than  one-half  of  beach  gold.  It  is  stated  that  $500,000  of  this  was 
taken  out  at  Tupkuk  in  three  weeks'  time,  and  it  is  reliably  reported 
that  three  men  in  that  place  picked  up  $36,000  off  a  small  plot  on 
the  beach  within  three  days.  It  was  the  reports  of  this  sort  of  luck 
that  brought  the  crowd  in  1900,  most  of  whom  were  doomed  to 
severe  loss  and  suffering. 


300 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


California's  output  of  gold  has  been  materially  increased  during 
the  past  year  by  the  success  of  the  dredge  system  for  recovering 
gold-bearing  mud  from  river  bottoms.  On  the  Feather  River 
meadows,  below  Oroville,  in  Butte  County,  some  twenty  enormous 
dredges  are  constantly  at  work,  each  raising  from  2000  to  3000 
cubic  yards  of  mud  daily.  During  1903  they  recovered  about 
$1,000,000  worth  of  gold  from  this  section,  and  probably  the  out- 
put will  be  nearer  $2,000,000  in  1904. 


River  Dredge  Operating  for  Gold-Bearing  Mud. 

The  mud  and  gravel  are  dredged  to  a  depth  of  from  twenty-five 
to  fifty  feet  below  the  natural  river-bottom,  and  the  mud  pans  out 
gold  to  the  value  of  from  seventy-five  cents  down  to  eight  cents  per 
yard.  When  it  runs  below  eight  cents,  the  dredges  move  in  search  of 
better  territory.  Several  forms  of  dredge  are  used,  some  bearing  an 
endless  belt  carrying  buckets  and  others  employing  a  great  scoop  or 
shovel.  The  mechanical  system  most  favored  is  thus  described  by 
the  San  Francisco  Enterprise : 

"  The  screen  is  set  on  a  grade,  so  that  the  heavy  material  gradually  travels 
through  it  and  is  discharged  overboard  at  the  stern  of  the  dredge.     A  perforated 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


301 


water-pipe  extends  into  the  screen,  the  water  at  the  rate  of  some  3000  gallons 
per  minute  thoroughly  washing  the  gravel  and  finding  its  way  with  the  gold  and 
fine  material  through  the  perforations  of  the  screen  and  into  a  distributing  box ; 
from  thence  it  goes  on  to  the  gold-saving  tables,  which  are  divided  into  sections 
and  are  covered  with  cocoa  matting  and  expanded  metal.  The  excellence  of  these 
tables  is  shown  by  the  class  of  gold  saved  on  them,  much  of  it  being  so  fine 
that  it  can  only  be  seen  by  the  aid  of  a  magnifying-glass.  The  water  is  supplied 
by  a  centrifugal  pump,  and  the  whole  of  the  machinery  on  the  dredge  is  run  by 
a  marine  engine  indicating  less  than  40  H.  P. 

"  The  dredge  is  handled  by  two  men,  one  a  fireman  and  the  other  a 
winchman.  It  is  mainly  owing  to  the  excellence  of  design  of  the  power  winch 
that  a  dredge  with  the  large  capacity  of  2500  cubic  yards  gross  per  day  requires 
only  two  men  on  a  shift  to  operate  it.  The  winch  has  six  barrels,  four  of  these 
control  lines  running  from  the  four  corners  of  the  dredge,  the  fifth  carries  the 
head  line,  and  the  remaining  one  raises  and  lowers  the  ladder. 

"  Attempts  have  been  made  to  work  these  river-beds  with  suction  dredges, 
but  these  have  not  been  successful,  as  the  high  specific  gravity  of  the  gold 
enables  it  to  escape  from  the  suction  when  the  cutter  breaks  down  the  pay  dirt. 

"  Placer  dredging  is  yielding  excellent  profits.  One  outfit  with  two  dredges 
averaged  a  net  profit  of  $600  a  day  for  three  weeks.  It  is  estimated  that  there 
is  now  invested  in  California  almost  $3,000,000  in  this  branch  of  mining. 

"  At  the  close  of  a  day's  work  the  gold  dredged  has  been  separated  from 
the  gravel,  and  is  ready  for  the  mint  at  San  Francisco." 

No  Other  branch  of  placer  mining  has  ever  yielded  richer  re- 
turns to  the  average  miner,  and  the  fact  that  the  Oroville  district  is 
in  the  locality  where  Marshall  first  discovered  gold  in  California, 
starting  the  famous  rush  of  "  forty-nine,"  is  of  marked  interest. 

Dredging  is  not  confined  to  the  Oroville  district,  being  also 
employed  on  the  Klematho  River,  and  on  the  Trinity,  Mokelume, 
Bear,  and  American  rivers,  the  latter  being  a  tributary  of  the  Sac- 
ramento. 

The  production  of  gold  in  the  United  States  as  determined  by 
the  Bureau  of  the  Mint  from  1873  to  1904  was,  in  round  numbers, 
68,000,000  fine  ounces,  worth  about  $1,400,000,000.  During  the 
same  period  1,375,000,000  fine  ounces  of  silver  were  obtained,  the 
production  of  silver  having  increased  more  rapidly  than  that  of 
gold.  The  largest  annual  production  of  gold  in  the  United  States 
was  for  many  years  the  $65,000,000  product  of  1863.  Since  1898 
we  have  exceeded  this  every  year,  the  product  in  1902  being  $80,- 
000,000,  which  figure  was  very  slightly  exceeded  by  the  mines  of 
Australasia.  In  1902  the  total  gold  product  of  the  world  was  fig- 
ured at  $295,000,000,  and  that  of  silver  figured  at  its  coining  value 
at  $215,000,000.  The  world's  industrial  consumption  of  gold  in 
1 89 1  was  $76,000,000,  the  United  States  being  the  largest  user. 

The  thirst  for  silver  is  probably  responsible  for  as  many  crimes 
as  the  thirst  for  gold.  Since  the  time  when  Pizarro  robbed  the 
Incas  of  Peru  and  Cortes  tortured  Montezuma  and  his  followers  in 


302 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Mexico,  the  pursuit  of  the  white  metal  is  marked  with  a  stream 
of  blood  as  deep  as  that  which  has  followed  the  search  for  gold  and 
diamonds. 

The  United  States  produces  the  largest  amount  of  silver  of  any 
country  in  the  world,  the  famous  Comstock  lode  being  the  richest 


Courtesy  IngersoU-Sergeant  Company. 

Sinking  a  Small  Shaft  for  Prospecting. 


ever  discovered.  There  have  been  found  in  this  lode  great  bodies 
of  ore  containing  as  much  as  from  sixty  to  eighty-seven  per  cent, 
pure  silver.  The  Leadville  mines  rank  next  in  importance,  and  there 
are  also   silver  mines   in   Colorado,    Montana,    Nevada,   and   New 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


303 


Mexico,  while  in  Central  and  South  America  are  a  number  of  silver 
mines  that  have  been  producing  for  over  two  hundred  years. 

The  mining  of  silver  is  not  pushed  as  hard  as  it  was  in  former 
years,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  is  falling  into  disuse  for  coining  into 
money,  and  this  has  so  reduced  the  demand  that  the  price  of  silver 
has  declined  steadily  for  many  years,  and  were  the  owners  of  mines 
to  increase  the  production  rapidly  the  price  would  fall  much  faster 
than  it  now  does. 


Courtesy  IngersoU-Sergeant  Company. 


View  in  a  Silver  Mine. 


In  the  Comstock  lode  the  silver  is  found  in  quartz  rocks;  in 
Leadville  silver  and  lead  are  found  together  in  granite;  in  many 
other  places  silver  is  found  in  galena,  usually  in  veins  of  quartz ;  in 
Eureka,  Nevada,  the  silver  is  found  in  iron  gangue.  Like  gold,  sil- 
ver is  occasionally  found  nearly  pure.  At  the  Beaver  mine  on  the 
north  shore  of  Lake  Superior  as  much  as  three  hundred  pounds  of 
silver  have  been  found  in  a  single  lump,  and  some  ore  was  found 
that  yielded  $8000  worth  of  silver  to  the  ton,  but  this  ran  out  alto- 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH  305 

gather  in  two  or  three  years.  A  mine  at  Silver  Islet,  not  far  from 
Beaver,  also  yielded  several  large  quantities  of  pure  silver,  but  in 
a  short  time  the  workings  gave  out.  An  old  mine  in  Peru  is  cred- 
ited with  yielding  a  solid  mass  of  silver  weighing  800  pounds,  and 
then  worth  about  $15,000. 

The  mining  of  silver  and  recovery  of  the  valuable  metal  from 
the  ore  present  problems  very  similar  to  gold  mining.     There  is 


A  Harz  Gigging-Machine. 

an  increasing  tendency  to  establish  the  plant  for  smelting  out  the 
metal  at  the  mouth  of  the  mine,  although  in  many  cases  ores  are 
transported  a  considerable  distance  to  a  smelting  plant.  In  treat- 
ing medium  or  low  grade  ore,  concentration  is  the  first  process ;  this 
consists  in  removing  the  earthy  and  refuse  matter  so  as  to  retain 
little  but  the  mineral.  A  common  machine  for  this  purpose  is  a 
mill  in  which  the  ore  is  received  after  the  first  rough  crushing, 
and  knocked  around  in  a  cylinder  having  hardened  steel  rollers  that 

20 


3o6  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

pulverize  the  ore,  water  running  through  to  assist  the  separation. 
Another  form  of  separating  machine  is  called  a  gig  or  gigging- 
machine;  with  this  the  ore  is  fed  on  top  of  a  screen  and  shaken  so 
that  the  heavier  particles  settle  down,  while  the  lighter  parts  move 
along  with  the  flowing  water.  Several  similar  machines  known  as 
classifiers  or  vanners  are  also  manufactured. 

The  leaching  or  lixiviation  process  consists  in  roasting  ore 
with  salt  to  convert  the  silver  into  chloride,  which  is  dissolved  in 
a  solution  of  hyposulphite  of  soda,  and  then  precipitated  with  sul- 
phide of  lime  or  soda,  as  a  sulphide  of  silver,  which  latter  is  refined. 
All  silver  ores  can  be  treated  by  this  process  except  those  that  con- 
tain so  much  lead  that  they  have  to  be  smelted.  A  common  form 
of  furnace  is  the  Bruckner,  which  is  used  in  roasting  silver  or 
copper  ores.  After  roasting  with  salt,  the  ore  is  moistened  with 
water  and  charged  into  leaching  tubs.  The  leaching  removes  the 
soluble  base  metal  salts.  After  the  salts  are  removed  the  next 
treatment  is  with  sodium  hyposulphite,  and  then  the  silver  is  pre- 
cipitated. The  time  required  for  silver  leaching  varies  from  eight 
to  seventy-two  hours. 

Previous  to  the  War  of  1861—65  most  of  the  world's  silver 
came  from  South  America  and  Mexico;  but  after  the  discovery  of 
the  great  Comstock  lode  in  Nevada,  that  State  became  the  largest 
producer  of  silver.  This  remarkable  deposit  consists  of  a  nearly 
perpendicular  vein  of  decomposed  quartz,  and  not  only  contains 
silver  in  a  very  pure  condition,  but  considerable  gold,  iron,  and  sul- 
phur. The  unprecedented  quantity  of  valuable  ore  in  this  lode  stim- 
ulated the  search  for  silver  in  other  localities  and  was  responsible 
for  the  discovery  of  many  valuable  mines.  In  very  many  of  these 
copper  is  found  in  conjunction  with  silver,  as  at  Anaconda,  Mon- 
tana. Most  so-called  gold  mines  yield  some  silver,  while  silver 
mines  produce  some  gold.  The  two  metals  are  very  commonly 
associated.  Copper  also  is  frequently  found  with  them.  The  Veta 
Madre  mine  in  Guanajuato,  Mexico,  which  has  been  worked  for 
over  two  hundred  years,  produces  both  gold  and  silver  in  consid- 
erable quantities,  and  is  the  most  famous  of  Mexican  mines.  Colo- 
rado, Utah,  and  Idaho  are  the  largest  producers  of  silver  among 
the  States  of  the  United  States. 

Improved  machinery  and  methods  for  recovering  even  small 
quantities  of  mineral  from  the  ore  have  resulted  in  the  working 
of  many  mines  where  the  percentage  of  valuable  metal  would  have 
been  insufficient  to  pay  a  profit  with  the  machinery  in  use  twenty- 
five  years  ago.     A  few  of  these  machines  are  described  and  illus- 


3o8  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

trated  here  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Alhs-Chalmers  Company. 
One  is  the  spiral  sand-pump,  which  is  a  decided  novehy  in  pump 
construction,  having  neither  piston,  cyhnder,  cranks,  valves,  buckets, 
nor  chains,  and  practically  no  wearing  parts.  It  is  simply  a  wheel, 
having  openings  in  the  outer  edge,  from  which  extend  spiral  pas- 
sages round  and  round,  in  reducing  diameter,  until  the  centre  of  the 
wheel  is  reached,  at  which  point  the  passages  deliver  into  the  pipe. 
This  pump,  being  set  to  operate  in  a  box  to  which  are  drained  the 
sands  of  a  concentrating  plant,  scoops  up  a  portion  of  the  sand  and 
water  at  each  revolution,  forcing  it  onward  and  inward  to  the  pipe. 
When  run  at  a  speed  of  twenty  revolutions  a  minute  such  a  pump 
will  raise  the  material  to  a  height  of  eighteen  feet. 

Screens  for  sizing  crushed  ore  constitute  an  important  part  of 
coarse  concentration,  since  the  proper  separating  of  the  particles 
into  sizes  is  essential  to  their  farther  separation  by  gravity;  par- 
ticles rich  in  mineral  are  heavy,  and  when  placed  with  other  par- 
ticles of  the  same  size  in  a  gig  or  a  slime-table  or  other  washing 
apparatus  are  easily  divided  by  their  weight.  The  illustration  shows 
a  common  arrangement  of  three  rotating  screens  for  the  wet  sizing 
of  ore. 

The  ordinary  type  of  gigging-machine  consists  of  a  water-tank 
divided  with  a  partition  that  does  not  quite  reach  the  bottom.  The 
sized  ore  being  fed  on  one  side  of  the  partition  to  a  horizontal 
screen  is  subjected  to  the  pulsation  of  water  coming  through  the 
screen  in  response  to  the  regular  action  of  a  plunger.  This  pulsation 
causes  the  heavier  particles  to  settle  down  and  discharge  at  a  dif- 
ferent place  from  the  lighter  particles.  Classifiers  are  made  in 
various  forms,  many  of  them  being  simply  troughs  having  a  series 
of  boxes  in  the  bottom  through  which  the  water  and  sand  are  made 
to  pass,  undergoing  successive  washings  in  each  box,  until  the  fine 
sand  overflows  at  the  outlet.  In  more  modern  forms  compressed 
air  is  made  use  of  for  agitating  the  material,  being  introduced  at 
the  bottom  of  the  classifier,  and  entering  against  the  column  of 
water  that  carries  the  sand.  The  Richard's  patent  vortex  classifier, 
made  by  the  Allis-Chalmers  Company,  has  a  cone  at  the  bottom  of 
the  discharge-pipe  under  each  box  or  vortex;  this  cone  is  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  wash-water  is  admitted  with  a  tangential  motion, 
which  action  prevents  the  slimes  from  passing  down  the  discharge 
with  the  coarser  materials,  the  classification  being  obtained  by  differ- 
ing the  pressure  at  the  several  vortices. 

The  Evans'  slime-table,  as  used  at  the  Anaconda  mine,  is  a  two- 
story  affair,  and  the  revolution  of  the  tables  carries  around  the 


3IO 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


material  deposited  on  them,  so  that  it  is  washed  by  the  water  flowing- 
down  the  slopes.  The  Frue  vanner  is  a  machine  having  an  endless 
rubber  belt  supported  on  rollers  so  as  to  form  an  inclined  plane. 
The  belt  travels  up  the  incline  and  around  a  large  roller  into  a 
water-tank  in  which  the  mineral  is  collected.  The  ore  is  fed  upon 
the  belt  in  a  stream  of  water,  and  flows  slowly  down  the  incline, 
being  subjected  to  a  steady  shaking  motion,  whose  purpose  is  to  de- 
posit the  mineral  on  the  belt.  Since  the  belt  travels  slowly,  and  the 
water  jets  wash  in  a  different  direction,  the  heavy  mineral  matter 
tends  to  stick  to  the  belt  and  be  carried  over  the  roller  or  drum, 
while  the  lighter  sand  is  washed  off. 

The  largest  deposits  of  copper  ore  are  found  in  Montana  and 
Michigan,  these  two  States  yielding  more  than  a  third  of  the 
world's  total  production  of  525,000  long  tons  annually.  Within 
a  few  years  valuable  deposits  of  copper  have  been  found  near 
the  boundary  of  what  is  officially  known  as  the  Yale  District  of 
Columbia,  including  the  Kettle  River  and  Grand  Forks  mining 
divisions.  In  1896  the  Columbia  Copper  Company,  Limited,  of  New 
York,  was  formed  to  push  mining  in  this  district  on  a  large  scale, 
and  by  the  close  of  1899  the  Columbia  and  Western  Railway  was 
built  into  the  district  to  render  it  available.  There  are  now  a  num- 
ber of  companies  operating  in  the  field,  which  has  proven  quite  rich, 
and  modern  machinery  has  been  taken  in  to  extract  the  metal  from 
the  ore  economically.  The  Granby  Company,  of  Phoenix,  is  one  of 
the  largest  producers. 

In  smelting  copper  it  has  become  common  to  use  a  process 
somewhat  similar  to  the  Bessemer  steel  process.  A  converter  is 
used,  which  has  a  thick  lining  of  crushed  quartz  mixed  with  clay. 
Molten  copper  matte  is  charged  into  the  converter  and  air  is  then 
forced  through  the  mass  by  a  blowing-engine.  The  sulphur  then 
combines  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air  and  passes  off,  while  the  iron 
is  oxidized  and  unites  with  the  quartz  of  the  lining  to  form  a  slag, 
thus  leaving  the  copper  practically  pure. 

The  hoisting  machinery  used  in  mines  has  arrived  at  a  high 
degree  of  perfection.  Since  the  lives  of  the  miners  depend  in  a 
great  degree  upon  the  correct  action  of  the  hoisting-machines  and 
the  pumping-engines  that  supply  fresh  air,  these  have  received 
especial  attention.  The  common  type  of  hoisting  apparatus  con- 
sists of  a  high-grade  modern  engine  operating  a  large  drum  bear- 
ing grooves,  so  that  it  serves  to  wind  and  unwind  a  strong  steel-wire 
rope.  This  rope  is  attached  to  the  cage,  which  is  the  name  that  the 
miner  gives  to  what  a  "  landsman"  would  call  an  elevator.     The 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF   THE    EARTH 


311 


illustration  shows  a  conical  drum-hoisting  engine  built  by  Frazer  & 
Chalmers  for  the  Atlantic  Mining  Company.  At  the  ends  of  the 
drum  will  be  observed  steel  band-brakes  for  use  in  case  of  an 
emergency,  as  the  bursting  of  a  fly-wheel  causing  the  engine  to 
race.  The  reason  why  the  drum  is  coned  so  that  the  radius  is 
greatest  in  the  centre  is  because  it  is  desired  to  counterbalance  the 
weight  of  the  rope  when  it  is  run  out,  so  that  the  strain  (or  amount 
of  work  on  the  engine)   is  the  same,  no  matter  how  much  rope  is 


Conical  Drum-Hoisting  Engine. 

hanging  down  the  shaft.  In  a  deep  mine  the  cage  is  often  moved 
at  a  speed  that  is  very  unpleasant  to  those  riding  in  the  cage  until 
they  are  accustomed  to  it.  Being  dropped  a  thousand  feet  in  consid- 
erably less  than  a  minute  is  literally  a  hair-raising  experience  for 
one  who  tries  it  for  the  first  time.  In  raising  and  lowering  a  cage 
in  a  mine,  the  engineer  is  governed  by  signals  sent  him  from  the 
different  mine  levels.  There  are  also  numerous  automatic  safety 
devices  which  prevent  the  engineer  from  causing  difliculty  below 


312 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


by  continuing  to  hoist  or  lower  the  cage  when  conditions  may  re- 
quire a  stop. 

A  common  form  of  mine-cage  is  shown  in  the  illustration.  It 
is  fitted  w4th  safety  catches,  arranged  to  work  by  means  of  springs, 
so  that  if  the  rope  should  break  the  catches  are  released  and  spring 
against  one  of  a  series  of  stout  projecting  stops  mounted  on  the 
guides  in  which  the  cage  slides  up  and  down,  thus  supporting  the 
cage  at  the  point  of  breakage.  The  weight  of  the  cage  itself  is  util- 
ized to  hold  these  spring-catches  out  of  action  under  ordinary  cir- 


Courtesy  Alhs-Chalmers  Company. 

A  Hooded  Safety  Mine-Cage. 

cumstances;  but  should  this  weight  be  released  by  the  breaking  of 
the  supporting  rope  the  spring-catches  would  immediately  fly  out, 
stopping  the  descent  of  the  cage.  The  tops  of  cages  are  often  pro- 
tected, like  the  one  shown  in  the  illustration,  with  a  sheet  steel  roof 
that  is  peaked  in  order  to  deflect  the  blow  of  anything  that  might 
fall  down  the  shaft  on  top  of  the  cage.  Another  form  of  cage  is 
made  for  carrying  workmen's  tools,  having  the  sides  and  ends  of 
the  cage  sloped  inwardly  towards  the  top,  in  order  that  long  tools, 
such  as  crowbars,  may  not  by  any  accident  point  outward  and  catch 
in  the  timbers  or  sides  of  the  shaft,  thus  bringing  about  a  dangerous 
accident. 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


313 


At  each  level  in  a  mine  where  the  cage  stops  there  are  provided 
rests,  called  landing-dogs  or  chairs;  the  illustration  shows  a  com- 
mon form.  By  moving  the  lever  in  either  direction  the  heavy  cross- 
beam is  shifted  accordingly,  so  that  it  may  come  under  the  cage  for 
a  support  or  be  moved  away  from  it. 

The  speed  with  which  hoisting  is  done  in  American  collieries 
is  illustrated  by  the  records  of  the  Nottingham  shaft  in  the  Wyo- 
ming Valley,  Pennsylvania.  It  has  two  hoistways,  and  during  the 
busy  season  there  are -sent  up  during  every  working  hour  380  tons 
of  coal,  each  trip  of  the  hoist  occupying  less  than  a  minute's  time. 


Landing-Dog. 

Diamonds  are  said  to  be  responsible  for  more  crimes  than  any 
other  form  of  human  wealth.  The  simple  fact  that  one  stone  may 
yield  an  ample  fortune  has  been  sufficient  to  tempt  men  to  the  com- 
mission of  any  deeds  necessary  to  secure  them.  From  the  poor 
black,  who  gashes  his  leg  and  thrusts  a  rough  stone  into  the  flesh 
to  sell  it  to  some  "  fence,"  hanging  around  the  diamond  mines,  for 
a  tenth  of  its  value,  to  the  swell  crook  who  burglarizes  a  safety 
deposit  vault  to  capture  the  finished  jewel,  there  is  ever  a  hungry 
eye  fixed  on  every  one  of  the  more  valuable  diamonds.  The  dia- 
mond fever  is  even  worse  than  the  gold  fever,  but  the  precious  stones 
are  found  in  so  few  places  that  fewer  men  are  afTected. 


314 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Within  the  past  twenty-five  years  the  diamond  mines  of  South 
Africa  have  yielded  gems  to  the  total  value  of  about  $500,000,000, 
which  valuation  should  be  doubled  to  show  the  wholesale  cost  of 
the  diamonds  when  cut.  The  final  value  of  these  stones,  when  they 
reach  the  public,  would  be  several  billion  dollars.  Previous  to  1867 
practically  all  the  diamonds  mined  had  been  found  in  either  of  tw^o 
districts,  one  in  India  and  one  in  Brazil ;  but  since  the  opening  up 
of  the  mines  at  and  near  Kimberley,  in  South  Africa,  fully  ninety- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  world's  product  has  come  from  the  latter  region. 
So  prolific  are  these  mines  that  it  is  only  because  of  the  wise  fore- 
thought of  Cecil  Rhodes  for  the  mine-owners  that  the  price  of  dia- 
monds has  not  been  greatly  reduced  to  the  public  through  an  over- 
supply. 


The  "Jubilee"  Diamond. 

The  largest  and  finest  diamond  the  world  has  produced  came 
from  Jagersfontein,  in  South  Africa.  This  has  been  called  the 
'*  Jubilee"  diamond,  and  was  exhibited  as  a  product  of  French  in- 
dustry at  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1900.  This  unique  stone  weighs 
239  carats,  not  only  far  outweighing  other  large  diamonds,  but 
exceeding  them  in  quality,  being  of  the  best  color  and  of  absolute 
purity.  There  is  not  the  least  suggestion  of  a  flaw  to  dim  the  bril- 
liancy of  its  liquid  light,  and  it  glows  with  a  limpid  fire  that  is  im- 
possible of  reproduction  in  an  illustration. 

Comparison  with  other  famous  diamonds  is  all  to  the  credit 
of  the  Jubilee.     The   famous   Kohinoor,  belonging  to  the  crown 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF   THE    EARTH 


315 


jewels  of  England,  weighs   106  carats,  and  is  slightly  grayish  in 
color.     The  Regent,  belonging  to  France,  weighs   136  carats,  but 


has  a  flaw  in  one  edge.     The  great  Orlofl:,  belonging  to  the  Czar 
of  Russia,  weighs  193  carats,  but  is  yellowish  and  poorly  cut. 

For  several  years  beginning  with    1867  there  were  valuable 


3i6 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


finds  of  diamonds  in  the  vicinity  of  Kimberley,  the  most  important 
of  these  being  the  picking  up  of  the  "  Star  of  South  Africa"  in  1869, 
this  being  a  pure  white  diamond  of  eighty-three  and  a  half  carats, 
which  was  bought  by  the  Earl  of  Dudley  for  $121,250.     By  1871 


Courtesy  The  Macmillan.  Company. 

Showing  Method  of  Sloping  in  South  African  Diamond  Mines. 

diamond  mining  was  undertaken  as  a  regular  business  at  Kim- 
berley, and  claims  were  established  very  rapidly,  each  claim  being 
thirty-one  feet  square.  Within  a  few  years  there  were  discovered 
four  productive  centres,  within  a  radius  of  three  and  a  half  miles. 
These  have  become  known  as  the  Kimberley  mine,  of  thirty-three 
acres ;   the  De  Beers  mine,  of  twenty-two  acres ;   the  Du  Toit's  Pan 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF   THE    EARTH 


317 


mine,  of  forty-five  acres ;  and  the  Bultfontein  mine,  of  thirty-six 
acres.  A  smaller  mine,  the  Wesselton,  was  located  in  the  same  dis- 
trict later,  and  at  a  distance  of  sixty  miles  there  are  the  Jagersfontein 
and  Koffeefontein  mines.  The  Kimberley  and  De  Beers  mines  are 
the  richest,  and  originally  consisted  of  over  three  thousand  separate 
claims,  but  by  1885  the  four  principal  mines  had  come  into  the 
ownership  of  forty-two  companies  and  fifty-six  individuals.  Cecil 
Rhodes  is  entitled  to  the  largest  share  or  credit  (if  a  credit  it  be) 
for  consolidating  the  ownership  of  the  mines ;  he  began  by  organ- 
izing three  firms  into  the  De  Beers  Mining  Company,  and  about  the 
same  time  Barney  Barnato  took  control  of  the  Kimberley  Central 
Company.  These  two  companies  continued  to  acquire  more  claims, 
and  worked  in  opposition  to  each  other  until  the  competition  brought 
the  price  of  rough  diamonds  at  the  mines  down  to  $4.32  per  carat. 
It  was  then  that  Rhodes  purchased  Barnato's  company  outright, 
paying  $25,882,292,  which  amount  was  covered  by  a  single  check, 
being  the  largest  ever  written  up  to  that  time. 

In  this  South  African  district  the  diamonds  are  found  mainly 
in  what  is  called  the  blue  ground,  which  exists  in  the  form  of  pipes 
that  run  straight  downward  into  the  earth  for  an  unknown  distance. 
These  are  undoubtedly  of  volcanic  origin,  and  the  bluish  color  of 
the  earth  is  due  to  iron,  for  which  reason  the  same  earth  towards 
the  surface  of  the  ground  is  yellow,  owing  to  the  oxidizing  influence 
of  the  air.  This  blue  ground  is  hard,  but  at  the  De  Beers  mine  is 
much  harder  than  at  Kimberley.  To  the  touch  it  feels  soapy,  and 
there  is  a  diamond  in  almost  every  cartload  of  it. 

The  first  mining  was  done  by  removing  the  top  soil,  there  beings 
a  red,  sandy  layer  above  the  yellow  earth,  and  enormous  pits  were 
dug,  until  a  time  came  when  the  pits  were  so  deep  that  the  earth 
at  the  sides  began  to  tumble  in  on  the  miners.  Then  the  system 
had  to  be  changed,  and  underground  mining  was  begun  in  a  manner 
very  similar  to  the  cutting  of  a  coal-mine.  ■  Shafts  were  sunk  and 
levels  cut  about  every  forty  feet  apart,  the  blue  ground  being  taken 
out  between  the  levels  by  stoping.  The  plan  is  to  bore  into  the  blue 
ground  above  the  miner,  taking  it  out  in  loads  of  about  1600  pounds, 
which  are  raised  to  the  surface  for  treatment.  Exposure  to  the 
weather  softens  the  blue  ground,  rendering  it  much  more  easy  to 
find  the  diamonds.  There  have,  therefore,  been  established  enor- 
mous floors  on  which  the  blue  earth  is  spread  for  months  in  order 
that  the  weather  may  assist  in  crumbling  it.  For  the  protection  of 
these  floors,  high  barbed-wire  fences  are  placed  around  them,  while 
armed  guards  are  on  watch  day  and  night,  and  search-lights  are 
employed  during  the  night  to  expose  any  intruders. 


3i8 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


When  the  bkie  ground  has  been  sufficiently  weathered  it  is 
watered  and  washed  in  cyHnders  and  pans,  and  subjected  to  various 
agitating  processes.  The  final  step  is  to  pass  the  mud,  as  it  may 
then  be  called,  over  a  sorting  machine,  commonly  known  as  a 
greaser.  This  is  a  stepped  table  having  grease  on  each  step;  the 
rich  mud  is  worked  across  the  steps,  and  the  diamonds  have  a  ten- 
dency to  adhere  to  the  grease.  So  successful  has  this  machine  be- 
come that  it  secures  nearly  all  the  diamonds  remaining  in  the  mate- 
rial passed  over  it,  less  than  one  per  cent,  of  its  residue  being  passed 
on  for  hand  sorting. 


Courtesy  The  Macmillan  Company. 


A  Washing-Plant  in  the  De  Beers  Floors. 


Of  course  a  great  many  diamonds  are  found  before  the  mate- 
rial goes  to  the  greaser,  premiums  being  offered  to  the  men  for 
finding  diamonds  in  the  mines  and  on  the  weathering  floors.  The 
white  miner  who  finds  a  diamond  in  the  mine  receives  seventy-two 
cents  per  carat,  while  if  one  be  found  by  a  black  man  he  receives  but 
twelve  cents  per  carat.  Diamonds  found  on  the  floor  command 
a  premium  of  one-half  of  these  rates.  Why  the  poor  black  is  dis- 
criminated against  to  this  degree  it  is  hard  to  say.  In  addition 
to  these  commissions  the  best  men  receive  very  good  pay,  mechanics 
commanding  $25  to  $40  per  week,  miners  $25  to  $30,  guards  $20 
to  $25,  machine  men  and  assorters  $25  to  $30. 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


319 


The  cost  of  mining  and  bringing  up  each  load  of  1600  pounds 
of  blue  ground,  including  the  entire  handling  and  sorting  of  the 
same,  is  fifty-two  cents,  and  each  load  averages  to  yield  about  one 
and  a  quarter  carats  at  the  Kimberley  and  De  Beers  mines ;  the  aver- 
age at  the  other  mines  is  considerably  less.  The  men  work  day  and 
night  in  three  shifts,  and  there  has  been  built  up  around  the  mines 
a  city  having  all  the  rough  and  boisterous  characteristics  of  a  mining 
centre.    , 

Within  recent  years  the  mines  have  been  fitted  with  the  most 
approved  type  of  modern  machinery,  mostly  of  American  make. 


Courtesy  The  Macmillan  Company. 


Diamond  Sorter  or  "  Greaser." 


Here  may  be  found  Baldwin-Westinghouse  mining  locomotives 
hauling  American-built  trucks,  also  Allis-Chalmers  air-compressors, 
Blake  and  Knowles  pumps,  Robins  conveyors,  Parsons  steam-tur- 
bines of  Westinghouse  make,  and  a  great  variety  of  American  elec- 
trical apparatus.  The  De  Beers  Company  manufactures  its  own 
explosives  for  blasting,  and  owns  a  very  large  and  up-to-date 
machine-shop  used  for  keeping  its  machinery  in  repair.  The  Indwe 
Railway  Coal  and  Land  Company  is  a  sub-corporation,  largely 
owned  by  the  De  Beers  Consolidated  Mines,  and  not  only  doing  a 
large  general  business,  but  supplying  Kimberley  with  coal  from  the 
Indwe  district. 


320 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  writer  once  met  a  man  who  said  that  he  had  the  finest  snap 
of  any  person  in  Pennsylvania.  His  job  was  shoeing  mules  six 
hundred  feet  below  ground  at  $2  per  day  of  ten  hours  in  a  Pittston 
coal-mine.  This  anecdote  is  of  interest  here  as  showing  that  there 
are  some  men  who  enjoy  nothing  better  or  can  conceive  of  nothing 
more  agreeable  than  working  around  the  black  ivory  by  the  flicker- 
ing light  of  a  Davy  lantern. 


Jeffrey  Locomotive  and  Mine  Car. 

Two  common  kinds  of  coal  are  mined,  anthracite  or  hard 
coal,  and  bituminous  or  soft  coal.  The  latter  is  the  cheaper  because 
there  is  more  of  it,  and  it  is  obtained  in  many  more  localities.  The 
anthracite  field  of  the  United  States  is  practically  confined  to  Penn- 
sylvania, where  there  is  an  area  of  480  square  miles,  which  produces 
between  50  and  60  million  tons  per  year.  It  is  also  found  in  Rhode 
Island,  Massachusetts,  Colorado,  and  New  Mexico,  but  is  not 
mined  to  any  extent  in  these  States.  Soft  coal  is  found  in  large 
quantities  in  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union,  although  more  of 
it  is  mined  in  Pennsylvania  than  elsewhere,  principally  because  the 
people  of  that  State  understand  mining  and  have  the  best  system 
for  distributing  the  coal. 

Until  recent  years  Great  Britain  was  the  largest  producer  of 
coal  in  the  world.  It  is  probable  that  the  coal-fields  there  were  all 
deposited  at  about  the  same  time,  which  is  another  way  of  saying 
that  they  are  parts  of  the  same  field  that  have  become  detached  by 
changes  in  the  configuration  of  the  land.  Coal  is  found  in  large 
quantities  in  the  North,  in  the  West,  and  Midland  sections  in  Eng- 
land, and  in  three  districts  in  Wales,  in  seven  districts  in  Scotland, 
and  several  in  Ireland.  The  coal  mined  for  burning  under  steam- 
boilers  comes  principally  from  South  Wales,  Northumberland,  and 
to  some  extent  from  Scotland,  Staffordshire,  and  Yorkshire;  the 
Midland  fields  yield  a  coal  that  is  valued  principally  for  iron  smelt- 
ing, manufacturing,  and  for  gas,  coke,  and  house  use.     Some  an- 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


321 


thracite  is  found,  especially  in  Pembrokeshire.  The  total  annual 
production  of  the  Scottish  mines  is  about  33,000,000  tons;  the  great 
northern  coal  field  of  England  yields  45,000,000  tons  annually;  the 
Midland  fields  52,000,000  tons;  the  Lancashire  fields  23,500,000 
tons,  while  the  other  English  coal-fields  yield  about  33,000,000  tons 
more;  the  Wales  mines  yield  32,500,000  tons,  while  the  mines  of 
Ireland  produce  the  insignificant  quantity  of  100,000  tons  per  year. 
In  1820  there  were  mined  in  the  United  States  only  67,000 


coA'eieldJ 


lAAP   OF   COALFIELDS 

OF 

BRITISH  ISLES 


SUPPOSED  LIMIT  OF 

Newcastle 

COAL    MEASURES 


i  N  E  L 


-^A-  G  LIS 


Courtesy   Engineering  Magazine. 


British  Coal-Fields. 


gross  tons  of  coal;  by  1850  this  product  had  increased  to  7,500,000 
tons,  while  the  same  year  Great  Britain  mined  54,000,000  tons. 
We  now  mine  300,000,000  metric  tons  annually,  a  product  un- 
equalled by  any  other  nation,  the  United  Kingdom  mining  in  1901 
223,000,000  tons,  Germany  153,000,000,  and  no  other  nation  as 
much  as  50,000,000  tons. 

In  mining  anthracite  coal  the  method  differs  according  to  the 
inclination  of  the  coal-bed.  This  may  be  either  level  or  dipped; 
that  is,  set  at  an  angle  to  the  horizon.  If  a  coal-bed  is  level  and  a 
hundred  or  more   feet  below  ground,   a   perpendicular  tunnel   or 

21 


322 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


upright  shaft  is  sunk  to  the  bottom  of  the  bed,  and  side  tunnels  or 
levels  are  cut  into  the  coal,  so  as  to  carry  it  away.  If  the  bed  is  in 
a  hill  or  mountain  it  may  sometimes  be  entered  by  a  level  tunnel, 
which  is  subdivided  into  numerous  passages  when  the  coal  is  reached. 
If  the  coal-bed  be  dipped  or  inclined,  the  main  shaft  may  be  run 
at  the  same  angle  as  the  dip,  while  the  levels  are  cut  lengthwise  of 
the  bed ;  this  involves  a  very  different  equipment  of  cars  and  many 
differences  in  timbering. 

The  common  way  of  taking  out  the  coal  is  for  the  miner  to  bore 
holes  into  a  breast  or  wall  in  front,  then  inserting  explosives  to  blow 
out  the  mass.    After  the  fumes  have  cleared  away,  laborers  load  the 


C'j  ri  -,   1  ii^iu  I'riiisi  Magazine. 

Coal-Miners  Working  a  Longwall  Face. 

coal  thus  broken  down  into  small  cars,  which  are  moved  away,  either 
by  mules  or  by  small  locomotives,  to  the  main  shaft. 

In  the  pillar-and-breast  system  of  working  a  mine,  the  coal 
is  got  out  in  large  spaces  of  perhaps  twenty  to  thirty-five  feet  in 
width,  these  being  called  chambers  or  rooms.  Each  chamber  is  ex- 
tended at  right  angles  to  a  level  or  main  gangway  to  a  distance  of 
perhaps  200  or  250  feet,  after  which  the  chamber  is  abandoned. 
Between  each  adjacent  chamber  a  mass  or  pillar  of  coal  is  left  to 
support  the  roof;  side  cuts  are  made  between  chambers,  partly  for 
ventilation  and  partly  to  get  more  coal.  The  Philadelphia  and  Read- 
ing Coal  Mining  Company  uses  a  modification  of  the  pillar-and- 
breast  system,  in  which  the  chambers  are  made  larger  than  ordinary, 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


323 


thus  securing  more  coal  from  a  given  area,  but  in  place  of  every 
tenth  or  twelfth  breast  a  block  of  coal  of  fifty  to  sixty  yards  across 
is  left  solid.  By  this  means,  if  there  is  a  fall  or  cave-in,  it  is  always 
confined  to  a  comparatively  small  space  between  one  of  these  large 
supports.  When  a  mine  is  practically  exhausted,  the  cutting  away 
of  these  supporting  pillars  is  sometimes  resorted  to,  this  being  termed 
robbing  a  mine.  It  is  not  only  exceedingly  dangerous  for  the  men 
engaged  in  it,  but  often  produces  disaster  on  the  surface  above, 
through  the  sinking  and  settling  of  the  soil. 

An  important  modern  improvement  in  anthracite  coal  mining 
has  been  brought  about  by  the  process  of  slushing,  which  is  the 


Courtesy  Engineering  Magazine. 


A  Modern  British  Colliery. 


filling-in  of  the  worked-out  portions  of  a  mine  with  refuse  material. 
The  method  of  operation  consists  in  boring  holes  from  the  surface 
to  the  worked-out  place  that  is  to  be  filled.  The  sides  of  the  sec- 
tion to  be  slushed  are  blocked  and  barricaded  to  prevent  the  slushed 
material  running  beyond  the  desired  territory.  The  refuse  from 
the  mine-breaker  is  moved  by  scraper-conveyors  to  the  entrance  of 
a  bored  hole,  where  it  is  mixed  with  water  and  run  down.  The 
water  serves  to  carry  the  refuse  along  to  its  destination,  and  the 
surplus  water  runs  out  through  the  crevices  in  the  barricades,  and 
is  pumped  out  of  the  mine  along  with  other  water.  A  weak  section 
of  an  old  mine  slushed  in  this  manner  can  be  filled  and  packed  very 


324 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


tightly.  The  town  of  Shenandoah,  Pennsylvania,  which  some  years 
ago  showed  signs  of  subsiding,  was  saved  by  this  method  of  filling 
up  the  mines  below. 


Anthracite  coal  is  not  in  condition  to  go  to  the  public  the  in- 
stant it  comes  out  of  the  mine,  requiring  first  to  be  taken  to  a 
breaker,   where  the  slate  and  other  impurities  are   removed,   and 


IN    THE    BOWELS    OF    THE    EARTH 


325 


where  it  is  graded  into  the  several  sizes.  Slate-picking  is  done 
principally  by  boys,  but  machines  known  as  coal-jigs  and  slate- 
separators  are  coming  into  use,  being  practicable  for  smaller  sizes 
of  coal.  These  separate  the  coal  from  the  slate  by  taking  note  of 
the  difference  in  weight  of  the  particles,  somewhat  after  the  manner 
of  an  ore-separator.  The  coal  treated  in  these  machines  has  the 
advantage  of  being  washed  in  the  jigs. 

Anthracite  coal  is  commonly  preferred  for  consumption  be- 
cause in  burning  it  gives  out  much  less  smoke  and  gas  than  the  bitu- 
minous. Some  railways  use  it  exclusively  in  order  to  render  their 
line  more  attractive  and  comfortable  to  passengers;  on  the  other 
hand,  large  furnaces,  iron  mills,  and  steam  vessels  have  largely 
abandoned  the  use  of  anthracite. 

In  opening  bituminous  coal-mines  in  the  Pennsylvania  region 
a  survey  is  first  made  of  the  district,  locating  all  out-croppings,  that 
is,  places  where  the  coal  comes  to  the  surface,  and  recording  the  dif- 
ferent levels  between  these  points.  This  survey  determines  the 
best  direction  for  driving  the  main  gangway  of  the  mine.  When 
possible  the  main  gangway  is  entered  at  a  low  point  in  the  coal 
and  carried  up  a  slight  incline,  so  that  the  mine  will  drain  itself  of 
water;  but  it  is  only  occasionally  that  this  is  possible.  The  dip  is 
not  usually  great,  but  the  nearer  level  it  is  the  less  are  the  hauling 
expenses  after  the  mine  is  in  operation.  Most  of  these  mines  in  the 
Pennsylvania  district  are  entered  by  drifts,  having  double  and  some- 
times triple  entry-ways,  parallel  with  each  other,  and  with  only  a 
supporting  wall  of  coal  between.  As  the  drift  is  cut  in,  a  light  rail- 
road is  built,  wooden  rails  often  being  laid  at  first  until  the  mine 
work  is  established,  after  which  light  iron  rails  are  laid.  What  is 
known  as  the  double-entry  system  is  now  commonly  employed  in 
cutting  the  main  gangways.  Two  entries  are  cut  into  the  coal, 
parallel  with  each  other,  and  eight  or  ten  yards  apart,  and  rooms 
are  cut  on  either  side  as  the  work  progresses-;  "  break-throughs"  are 
cut  between  the  entries  at  short  distances  for  ventilation.  This  sys- 
tem has  the  advantage  of  enabling  more  coal  to  be  taken  from  a 
given  area  than  any  of  the  old  systems. 

The  World  Almanac  for  1904  gives  the  following  estimate  of 
the  amount  of  coal  in  the  world : 

"  The  coal-fields  of  China,  Japan,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  Russia,  and  India 
contain  apparently  303,000,000,000  tons,  which  is  enough  for  450  years  at  present 
rate  of  consumption.  If  to  the  above  be  added  the  coal-fields  in  the  United 
States,  Canada,  and  other  countries,  the  supply  will  be  found  ample  for  1000 
years.  Improved  machinery  has  greatly  increased  the  yield  per  miner,  and  thus 
produced  a  fall  in  price  to  the  advantage  of  all  industries." 


MODERN    FOODS    AND    FOOD    PRESERVATION 

While  we  all  eat  to  live,  yet  the  man  who  lives  to  eat  has  a 
better  chance  of  enjoyment  in  this  twentieth  century  than  he  did  a 
few  generations  ago.  The  many  new  foods  introduced  to  tickle  the 
palate  and  the  numerous  delicacies  of  all  seasons,  preserved  so  that 
they  can  be  obtained  at  any  time,  have  enabled  the  modern  epicure 
to  set  his  table  at  moderate  cost  with  the  choicest  viands.  Straw- 
berries and  ice  cream  may  now  be  eaten  in  December  quite  as  well 
as  in  July,  while  the  season  for  the  oyster  has  disappeared  along  with 
the  seasons  for  special  game. 

It  is  to  the  modern  methods  for  the  preservation  of  foodstuffs 
that  we  owe  in  great  measure  the  lengthy  bills  of  fare  provided  by 
our  hotels  and  restaurants,  as  well  as  the  long  list  of  canned  goods 
furnished  cheaply  by  every  grocer.  The  use  of  ice  and  cold-storage 
facilities  have  done  much  towards  keeping  foods,  but  the  canning 
industry  has  done  a  great  deal  more.  It  is  now  a  little  over  one 
hundred  years  since  Nicholas  Appert,  a  Frenchman,  brought  into 
use  the  hermetically  sealed  glass  jar  for  preserving  fish,  fruit,  and 
the  like.  His  method  was  that  commonly  practised  by  housewives 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago  in  boiling  the  food  they  could  not  use  at 
the  time  and  closing  it  up  while  hot  in  air-tight  glass  jars. 

As  an  industry,  Ezra  Daggett  and  Thomas  Kensett  began  the 
preservation  of  fish  and  oysters  in  New  York  about  1818,  and  a  little 
later  William  Underwood  and  Charles  Mitchell  started  a  similar 
business  in  Boston,  also  putting  up  pickles,  sauces,  jams,  and  jellies. 
Kensett  patented  the  use  of  tin  cans  for  preserving  in  1825,  and 
started  a  little  factory,  but  the  manufacture  of  cans  was  slow  and 
expensive  at  that  time.  The  stamped  can  invented  by  Allen  Taylor 
came  out  in  1847,  ^"d  was  improved  a  little  later  by  Henry  Evans, 
Jr.,  of  New  Jersey.  By  i860  there  were  a  number  of  canneries  en- 
gaged in  putting  up  lobster,  mackerel,  fruits,  and  vegetables  in  the 
State  of  Maine,  but  the  canning  industry  did  not  become  an  active 
one  until  about  1870  or  1875,  when  the  canning  of  fruits  developed 
very  rapidly.  A  closed  process-kettle  for  cooking  the  fruit  with  super- 
heated steam  was  brought  out  in  Baltimore  in  1874  by  A.  K.  Shriver, 
and  John  Fisher,  of  the  same  city,  invented  another  form  of  process- 
kettle  about  the  same  time.  About  1876,  an  exhibit  of  the  Ferracute 
Manufacturing  Company,  at  the  Centennial  Exposition  in  Philadel- 

326 


MODERN    FOODS    AND    FOOD    PRESERVATION 


327 


phia,  of  tools  for  making  cans  and  canners'  goods,  assisted  a  boom 
in  the  business,  and  canneries  were  established  very  rapidly  wherever 
there  were  small  fruits  or  fisheries. 

The  United  States  census  returns  of  1900  show  a  total  of  2195 
establishments  engaged  in  the  canning  of  fruit  and  vegetables,  fish 
and  oysters,  etc.,  eighty-two  per  cent,  of  these  being  devoted  to 
fruits  and  vegetables.  The  total  capitalization  was  almost  $50,000,- 
000.  While  the  fish  and  oyster  canneries  were  so  much  fewer  in 
number,  the  amount  of  money  invested  in  that  branch  of  the  industry 


Cutting  Out  Tops  for  Tin  Cans. 

was  two-fifths  of  the  total,  the  establishments  being  larger  in  char- 
acter. The  industry  gives  employment  to  a  little  over  50,000  wage- 
earners  according  to  the  census  of  1900,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  number  of  workers  employed  in  the  busiest  month  of  the  year, 
September,  amounts  to  about  117,000,  while  there  are  nearly  as 
many  employed  during  August  and  October.  July  and  June  are 
also  fairly  busy  months,  although  the  busy  season  proper  is  usually 
figured  from  the  ist  of  July  to  the  last  of  October.  Before  the  fruit 
is  ready  for  canning  there  is  a  month  or  so  of  busy  work  in  making 


328  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

cans  and  preparing  for  the  rush,  and  after  the  rush  is  over  there  is 
considerable  final  work  in  the  way  of  labelling,  packing,  shipping, 
and  selling  for  the  winter  market. 

During  the  period  from  1890  to  1900  the  fruit  and  vegetable 
canneries  more  than  doubled  in  number,  the  increase  being  mainly 
in  the  States  of  New  York  and  Maryland,  which  lead  in  the  indus- 
try, although  almost  every  State  in  the  Union  is  represented  by  one 
or  more  canning  factories.  In  1900  the  cost  of  the  fruit,  vegetables, 
fish,  oysters,  etc.,  used  by  the  canneries  amounted  to  over  $53,- 
000,000,  while  their  value  after  preserving  was  raised  to  nearly 
$83,000,000. 

The  process  of  canning  fruits  as  usually  carried  on  involves  the 
use  of  steam-boilers  for  heating  water,  to  supply  the  tanks  and 
kettles,  some  of  the  tanks  being  used  for  washing  and  others  for 
scalding.  Baskets  made  of  heavy  galvanized  wire  are  used  for 
tomatoes  and  similar  fruit,  in  dipping  them  into  the  scalding  kettles. 
For  steam-cooking  a  number  of  cans  with  soldered  tops  are  placed 
on  a  tray  and  lowered  into  one  of  the  great  cooking  boilers;  the 
cover  of  the  boiler  is  then  closed,  and  steam  turned  on  for  the 
cooking.  There  is  a  little  hole  left  in  the  top  of  each  can  for  the 
escape  of  air  and  steam.  When  the  cooking  is  finished  the  cans 
are  hoisted  out  of  the  boiler,  and  a  drop  of  solder  placed  on  the  hole 
seals  the  can  so  that  there  is  no  opportunity  for  germs  to  enter  and 
cause  decay. 

Among  the  other  tools  of  the  canners  are  gasolene  fire-pots  for 
heating  the  capping-steels  and  tinning-coppers,  or  tools  for  closing 
the  cans.  These  fire-pots  are  provided  with  air-pumps  for  driving 
air  into  the  gasolene  tanks,  thus  forcing  out  the  oil  to  the  fire-pots, 
where  it  is  vaporized  and  burned  as  gas.  Capping-tables  are  pro- 
vided on  which  the  fire-pots  are  placed,  and  here  the  cans  are  capped. 
Among  the  special  machines  made  for  the  canner  are  hulling  ma- 
chines that  will  handle  one  thousand  bushels  of  peas  in  a  day,  and 
rotary  separators  that  will  grade  into  sizes  six  hundred  bushels  of 
peas  per  day;  also  pea-sieves  for  sorting  peas  in  small  quantities, 
and  pea-blanchers  for  scalding  and  blanching  peas.  Then  there  are 
corn-cutting  machines  that  will  remove  the  corn  from  the  cobs  at 
a  speed  of  four  thousand  ears  an  hour,  and  corn  silking-machines 
that  remove  the  silk  and  other  refuse  from  the  cut  corn,  and  auto- 
matic can-filling  corn  machines  having  a  capacity  of  12,000  cans  a 
day.  There  are  also  several  forms  of  machines  designed  for 
handling  tomatoes,  pumpkins,  and  other  common  sorts  of  vegeta- 
bles, and  a  great  variety  of  parers,  graters,  corers,  and  seeders. 


MODERN    FOODS    AND    FOOD    PRESERVATION 


329 


Salmon  canning  is  one  of  the  most  important  branches  of  the 
fish-canning  industry,  and  is  largely  carried  on  in  California  and 
the  Pacific  coast.  A  number  of  canneries  also  have  been  located 
in  Alaska.  The  Chinese  perform  most  of  the  labor  in  the  Pacific 
salmon  canneries,  the  method  of  operation  being  first  to  wash  the  fish 
and  place  in  ice-cold  water  to  keep  them  fresh  and  cool ;  next  they 
go  to  the  dressing-tables,  where  the  heads,  fins,  and  tails  are  cut 
off,  and  the  carcass  cleaned.  After  another  washing  they  are  cut 
into  sections  of  a  proper  size  for  the  cans  to  be  filled,  and  after 
filling  the  cans  go  to  the  cooking-room,  where  the  treatment  is  such 


Salmon  Fishery  at  Portland,  Oregon. 


that  the  fish  is  not  only  thoroughly  cooked,  -but  the  bones  are  re- 
duced to  a  crumbling  condition. 

The  first  cooking  is  done  in  a  closed  can,  which  is  then  punc- 
tured to  let  out  the  steam,  after  which  there  is  another  cooking,  and 
then  the  can  is  sealed  and  given  a  bath  in  lye  to  remove  the  grease 
and  dirt.  On  the  eastern  coast  of  the  United  States  sardine  canning 
is  an  important  industry.  The  name  sardine  is  applied  to  a  variety  of 
small  fishes  not  over  ten  inches  in  length,  and  they  are  very  com- 
monly fried  in  oil  and  canned  in  an  oily  solution.  Maine  has 
by  far  the  largest  number  of  fish-canning  establishments,  there  being 
117  in  the  census  year,  out  of  a  total  of  348  in  the  United  States. 


330 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  total  value  of  the  fish  canned  in  the  United  States  during  the 
census  year  of  1900  was  about  $21,000,000,  the  total  in  pounds 
being  173,000,000  of  canned  fish,  22,000,000  of  smoked  fish,  and 
126,000,000  of  salted  fish.  The  salmon  come  first  in  value  and 
weight,  being  followed  by  the  sardines,  these  two  being  more  than 
half  the  total  quantity  of  fish  preserved  in  the  country;  smoked 
herring  come  next  in  value,  and  then  cod.  The  weight  of  the  cod 
is  in  excess  of  the  weight  of  sardines,  but  the  value  is  less.  Herring 
is  the  only  other  fish  that  cuts  any  considerable  figure  in  preserving, 
and  oysters  and  clams  are  about  on  a  par  with  herring. 

The  preparation  of  meats  for  food  has  passed  very  largely  out 
of  the  hands  of  individual  butchers  into  those  of  slaughtering  estab- 
lishments and  meat-packing  houses.  In  the  abattoir,  or  slaughter- 
house, the  method  of  utilizing  animals  for  food  has  been  rendered 
quite  economical.  In  the  case  of  pork  the  animal  is  driven  into  a 
pen,  and  a  cord  being  tied  to  one  leg,  the  creature  is  strung  up  and 
attached  to  a  pulley  travelling  on  an  overhead  rail.  As  it  passes 
along  the  rail  it  is  stabbed  with  a  promptness  as  humane  as  it  is 
effectual,  and  then  dropped  into  a  tank  of  scalding  water  for  the  pur- 
pose of  loosening  the  hair.  It  is  picked  out  of  the  hot  vat  by  auto- 
matic arms  and  deposited  upon  a  table,  where  the  carcass  is  scraped 
and  the  skin  washed  clean.  Next  there  is  an  inspection  to  deter- 
mine whether  the  meat  is  of  proper  quality,  after  which  the  carcass 
is  cut  open  and  the  entrails  removed,  the  leaf  lard  being  taken  out 
and  placed  in  one  pile,  while  the  heads  and  tongues  are  deposited 
elsewhere;  then  the  carcass  is  split  into  halves,  which  are  run  into 
the  cooling-room. 

The  method  followed  with  beef  is  very  similar.  The  blood 
obtained  in  slaughtering  is  coagulated  and  used  for  sizing  paper, 
and  also  in  the  manufacture  of  fertilizers,  and  for  the  refining  of 
sugar.  The  blood  of  a  steer  ordinarily  weighs  about  forty  pounds, 
and  sells  for  about  $40  per  ton.  The  undesirable  and  dirty  portions 
of  fat  and  meat  are  gathered  and  sold  to  manufacturers  of  soap, 
candles,  and  axle-grease.  Such  of  the  bones  as  do  not  go  with  the 
meat  are  disposed  of  to  manufacture  of  glue  and  gelatin.  The 
hair  of  the  beef  may  go  into  "  camers"-hair  pencils  or  serve  as 
shoddy  in  the  manufacture  of  "  woollen"  goods.  The  horns  are 
made  into  knife-handles,  umbrella-handles,  articles  imitating  tor- 
toise shell,  whalebone,  and  a  variety  of  smaller  things.  The  bile 
goes  to  the  bookbinder  or  painter,  while  the  stomach  of  the  young 
calf  furnishes  rennet  used  by  the  cheese  manufacturer.  The  hog's 
stomach  is  the  chief  source  of  pepsin,  and  a  variety  of  minor  uses 


MODERN    FOODS    AND    FOOD    PRESERVATION 


331 


are  made  of  portions  of  the  remains  which  would  be  thrown  away 
by  small  butchers. 

One  of  the  largest  industries  growing  out  of  beef  slaughtering 
is  the  manufacture  of  oleomargarine,  which  is  made  almost  wholly 
from  a  good  quality  of  beef  fat,  that  is  chemically  very  similar  to 
butter  and  equally  wholesome. 

The  pork-packing  industry  assumed  some  importance  about 
1870,  and  beef-packing  followed  a  few  years  later.  At  first  these 
industries  were  carried  on  principally  during  the  summer  season. 
When  refrigerating  processes  were  introduced  a  few  years  later,  the 
dressed  beef  as  well  as  pork  concerns  experienced  a  boom.  Between 
1880  and  1890  the  growth  of  the  meat-packing  industry  nearly 
doubled. 


Grain  Awaiting  Sliipment. 

Since  1890,  while  the  industry  has  continued  to  grow  at  about 
the  same  rate,  there  has  been  a  tendency  to  concentration  of  estab- 
lishments, resulting  in  a  lessening  of  the  number,  which  is  now 
below  one  thousand,  with  an  average  capitalization  of  over  $100,000 
for  each  establishment.  In  the  census  year  of  1900  the  total  invested 
capital  was  $190,000,000;  there  were  69,000  employees;  the  cost 
of  the  animals  slaughtered  was  $684,000,000,  which  was  increased 
to  $786,000,000  as  meat. 

Chicago  is  by  far  the  most  important  centre  of  the  meat-packing 
industry.  Armour  &  Co.'s  establishment  being  probably  the  largest 
in  the  world.  They  do  a  business  of  probably  more  than  $10,000,000 
a  month,  employing  some  5000  railway  cars  to  carry  their  products. 


232  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

Kansas  City  is  the  next  place  of  importance,  and  the  industry  there 
has  developed  very  rapidly.  South  Omaha,  Nebraska,  is  also 
becoming  a  large  centre  for  meat-packing. 

Our  exports  of  pork  and  hog  products  constitute  the  third 
largest  item  of  merchandise  sold  to  foreign  countries.  In  1903  we 
exported  over  $112,000,000  worth,  while  other  meat  and  dairy 
products  footed  up  another  $67,000,000., 

The  past  fifteen  years  have  witnessed  a  great  change  in  the 
methods  of  producing  cheese,  butter,  and  condensed  milk.  Formerly 
these  dairy  products  belonged  wholly  to  the  farm,  but  now  the 
cheese-making  industry  has  established  itself  largely  in  factories, 
while  nearly  one-third  of  the  butter  produce  is  also  factory  made. 
The  following  table  gives  a  correct  idea  of  the  dairy  situation  in 
the  census  year  of  1900: 

Cows  kept  for  milk,  on  farms,  number 17,139,674 

Cows  kept  for  milk,  not  on  farms,  number 973,033 

Total  number  of  cows  kept  for  milk 18,112,707 

Milk  produced,  on  farms,  gallons 7,266,392,674 

Milk  produced,  not  on  farms,  gallons 462,190,676 

Total  gallons  of  milk  produced 7,728,583,350 

Butter,  made  on   farms,  pounds 1,071,745,127 

Butter,  made  in  factory  creameries,  pounds 420,126,546 

Butter,  made  in  urban  dairy  establishments,  pounds.  ..  .  827,470 

Total  pounds  of  butter  made 1,492,699,143 

Cheese,  made  on  farms,  pounds 16.372,330 

Cheese,  made  in  factories,  pounds 281,972,324 

Cheese,  made  in  urban  dairy  establishments,  pounds.  .  662,164 

Total  pounds  of  cheese  made 299,006,818 

Condensed  milk  produced,  pounds 186,921,787 

Value  of  total  butter  made,  at  18  cents $268,685,845 

Value  of  total  cheese,  at  9  cents 26,910,614 

Value  of  total  condensed  milk 11,888,792 

Value  of  total  cream  sold 4,435,444 

Value  of  total  sundry  factory  products 1,261,359 

Value  of  total  milk  consumed  (estimated) 277,645,100 

Aggregate  value  dairy  products  of  United  States    $590,827,154 

There  are  now  over  ten  thousand  establishments  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  cheese,  butter,  and  condensed  milk,  and  these 
have  a  capital  of  about  $40,000,000  and  give  employment  to  about 


MODERN    FOODS    AND    FOOD    PRESERVATION 


333 


13,000  individuals.  Between  1890  and  1900  the  capitalization  in- 
creased nearly  300  per  cent.,  while  the  products  increased  over  400 
per  cent.  The  creameries  have  increased  in  number  even  faster  than 
cheese  factories,  and  New  York  State  has  the  greatest  number  of 
both,  Wisconsin  being  second,  and  Iowa  third.  The  reason  why 
the  cheese  factory  has  swept  aside  the  farm  in  the  manufacture  of 
cheese  appears  to  be  that  it  has  succeeded  in  making  both  a  better 
and  a  cheaper  article,  having  a  superior  equipment  and  conveniences 
for  making  on  a  larger  scale,  as  well  as  for  selling  and  shipping. 
The  business  has  gradually  drifted  into  the  hands  of  the  factories, 
some  of  which  keep  cows,  but,  as  a  rule,  purchase  most  of  their  milk 
from  the  farmers.     The  earlv  cheese  and  creamerv  factories  were 


Discharging  Wheat  from  a  Vessel  to  a  Lighter. 

co-operative  concerns,  in  which  farmers  were  joint  owners,  but  as 
the  business  developed  and  it  became  apparent  that  the  handling  of 
milk  and  cream,  as  well  as  the  manufacture  of  cheese,  was  essen- 
tially a  different  business  from  raising  cows  and  producing  milk, 
the  creamery  as  well  as  the  cheese  factory  became  a  separate  insti- 
tution. The  introduction  of  machines,  as  the  cream  separator  or 
dairy  centrifuge,  had  a  considerable  influence  in  developing  the 
creamery.  Having  the  best  facilities  for  separating  the  cream,  of 
■course  butter-making  naturally  seeks  the  factories,  and  the  present 
indications  are  that  within  another  ten  years  at  least  half  the  butter 
making  of  the  country  will  be  carried  on  in  the  creameries,  and  that 
farmers  will  devote  their  attention  more  wholly  to  the  production 
of  milk  to  be  sold  directly  to  the  creameries. 


334  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

Another  important  development  in  modern  foods  is  the  market- 
ing of  a  variety  of  cereals,  produced  under  copyrighted  names,  as 
wheatena,  force,  shredded  wheat,  etc.,  these  and  similar  articles 
being  partially  or  wholly  cooked,  so  that  they  can  be  eaten  with  very 
little  preparation.  These  have  largely  taken  the  place  of  the  old- 
fashioned  corn-meal,  cracked  wheat,  and  graham  mush,  and  to  some 
extent  have  replaced  oat-meal.  As  a  table  food  their  convenience 
and  utility  have  made  them  a  market,  and  the  profuse  way  in  which 
they  are  advertised  indicates  that  they  will  increase  in  number  and 
variety  rather  than  be  reduced  by  competition. 

The  modern  bakery  has  modern  machinery.  One  of  the  new 
devices  is  a  dough-mixer  capable  of  handling  six  barrels  of  flour  at 
once.  This  machine  has  a  spiral  blade  rotating  in  a  trough.  From 
this  the  dough  is  run  into  the  kneading-machine,  called  a  "  brake." 
The  common  type  of  cracker-making  machine  receives  the  dough 
under  a  flattened  roller  at  one  end,  a  coating  of  floiir  being  applied 
to  the  dough  as  it  is  pushed  in.  The  flattened  mass  of  dough  is 
carried  along  to  a  travelling  apron  under  a  rotary  brush  that  removes 
the  surplus  flour,  and  then  to  a  series  of  stamps  and  dies  that  cut 
the  dough  sheet  into  crackers  of  the  desired  form.  Advancing  a 
little  farther,  the  crackers  are  pushed  down  through  the  sheet  of 
dough  by  means  of  mechanical  fingers,  while  the  surplus  scraps  are 
carried  away  to  be  used  over  again.  The  separated  crackers  fall 
into  another  travelling  apron,  and  are  carried  to  the  baking-pans. 
Such  a  machine  will  manufacture  about  50  barrels  of  crackers  daily. 

The  preservation  of  meats  and  fruits  for  use  at  all  seasons 
would  be  largely  impractical  were  it  not  for  the  development  of  cold 
storage.  Artificial  refrigeration  has  grown  out  of  the  sale  of  natural 
ice,  which  was  at  first  imported  from  the  northern  portions  of  the 
United  States,  especially  from  Maine  and  northern  New  York,  until 
ice  became  established  as  a  necessity  in  well-regulated  households. 
Ice  was  first  used  in  New  York  City  for  the  preservation  of  goods 
about  181 5  or  1820,  and  about  the  same  time  the  sale  commenced  in 
the  large  cities  of  the  South.  The  natural  ice  trade  reached  its 
height  about  1870  or  1872,  at  which  time  the  refrigerating  ice- 
machines  began  to  affect  the  sale  of  the  natural  article. 

There  has  been  a  total  of  about  4500  patents  granted  in  the 
United  States  for  various  processes  of  refrigeration,  some  700  of 
these  relating  directly  to  ice-machines.  The  first  practical  ice- 
machine  was  that  of  Carre,  a  Frenchman,  who  patented  his  inven- 
tion in  the  United  States  in  i860,  founding  what  is  known  as  the 
ammonia  absorption  process.     Modern  machines  are  manufactured 


MODERN    FOODS    AND    FOOD    PRESERVATION 


335 


on  his  absorption  system  and  also  on  the  compression  system.  In 
the  absorption  system  a  solution  of  aqueous  ammonia  is  employed, 
being  first  generated  as  a  gas,  then  condensed,  and  then  allowed  to 
expand  and  absorb  the  heat.  In  order  to  understand  the  principle, 
the  reader  should  bear  in  mind  that  ammonia  boils  at  a  very  moder- 
ate temperature,  28;^°  F.     It  is  therefore  very  easy  to  convert  it 


Sectional  View  of  the  Frick  Company's  Ice-Making  Machine. 

from  the  liquid  form  into  a  gas,  and  this  change  raises  the  pressure 
of  the  ammonia  very  materially;  then  by  leading  the  ammonia 
through  pipes  that  are  kept  cold  by  flowing  cold  water,  the  ammonia 
can  be  condensed  again. 

The  compression  system,  having  proved  more  convenient,  is 
the  one  more  commonly  used.  In  this  anhydrous  ammonia — that  is, 
ammonia  which  contains  no  water — is  allowed  to  expand  into  a  gas, 
and  is  subjected  to  pressure  by  means  of  a  steam-pump.     This  com- 


33(^ 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


pression  increases  the  heat  of  the  ammonia  gas,  and  by  then  passing 
the  ammonia  through  coils  of  pipe  and  making  it  again  cold — in 
other  words,  robbing  it  of  its  heat — the  ammonia  is  reduced  to  a 
condition  where  it  seeks  to  regain  its  heat.  By  allowing  it  to  expand 
in  pipes  that  surround  a  tank  of  water,  the  ammonia  reduces  the 
temperature  of  the  water  in  its  effort  to  regain  its  lost  heat,  and,  by 
continuing  a  circulation  of  expanding  ammonia  around  the  tank  of 
water,  after  some  hours  it  is  brought  below  a  temperature  of  thirty 
degrees  and  becomes  ice.  The  process  is  the  same  in  cooling  rooms 
to  a  temperature  of,  say,  fifty  degrees  for  moderate  cold  storage. 


McGowan  Steam-Pump. 


In  making  artificial  ice  two  forms  of  ice-tank  are  used,  one 
being  called  the  can  system  and  the  other  the  plate  system.  In  the 
former,  the  water-cans  are  placed  in  the  cool  brine,  these  cans  being 
of  the  size  of  the  cakes  of  ice  to  be  produced ;  in  the  plate  system 
the  ice-tanks  are  often  five  by  ten  feet  and  one  foot  thick,  producing 
a  large  plate  of  ice,  designed  to  be  cut  up  for  consumption.  In  the 
can  system  the  water  is  frozen  from  all  four  sides  to  the  centre,  and 
both  air  and  impurities  are  imprisoned  in  the  cake,  while  in  the  plate 
system  the  air-bubbles  and  impurities  rise  naturally  and  leave  the 
ice  transparent. 


MODERN    FOODS    AND    FOOD    PRESERVATION  337 

During  the  period  from  1870  to  1880  the  number  of  estab- 
Hshments  manufacturing  ice  in  the  United  States  increased  from 
four  to  thirty-five,  and  produced  a  httle  over  a  quarter  of  a  miUion 
to  a  Httle  over  a  half  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  ice.  During  the 
next  decade  the  number  of  establishments  increased  from  thirty-five 
to  222,  and  the  value  of  the  product  was  raised  to  almost  $5,000,000. 
The  census  returns  for  1900  show  that  there  were  then  787  establish- 
ments, having  a  capital  of  nearly  $40,000,000,  and  manufacturing 
nearly  $14,000,000  worth  of  artificial  ice  per  annum.  Nearly  two- 
thirds  of  the  businesses  are  incorporated  companies,  and,  strange  as 
it  may  seem,  the  Middle  States  have  more  than  twice  as  many  ice- 
making  establishments  as  the  Southern  States. 

The  manufacture  of  ice  is  peculiar  in  the  fact  that  the  materials 
used  do  not  go  into  the  product  sold.  The  water  of  which  the  ice 
is  made  costs  practically  nothing,  the  largest  item  of  expense  in 
ice-factories  being  coal  for  producing  heat  to  drive  the  compressors. 
In  the  year  1900  the  coal  bill  of  the  ice-factories  constituted  two- 
thirds  their  total  cost  of  operation.  This  has  produced  the  very  curi- 
ous result  of  manufactured  ice  being  produced  almost  wholly  by  the 
use  of  heat.  The  most  expensive  article  used  by  the  ice-factory  is 
ammonia,  but,  as  this  is  used  over  and  over  again,  it  does  not  consti- 
tute a  very  large  item  in  the  annual  bill  of  expense,  being  an  item 
rather  to  be  added  to  the  cost  of  the  plant. 

While  the  above  summary  of  changed  conditions  in  the  food 
market  is  necessarily  incomplete,  yet  it  serves  to  show  the  principal 
changes  that  have  developed  with  a  generation,  altering  very  largely 
the  character  of  the  foods  eaten  by  the  great  public. 

The  writer  cannot  forbear  in  closing  to  call  attention  to  the 
great  extent  of  adulteration  employed  in  many  of  the  foods  com- 
monly offered  for  sale.  There  are  no  reliable  statistics  in  regard  to 
these,  but  it  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  manufacturers 
of  foods  are  governed  almost  wholly  by  commercial  considerations 
rather  than  the  nutritive  qualities  of  their  goods  and  the  health  of 
the  consumers.  Unless  there  is  brought  into  being  some  system 
of  governmental  examination  and  restriction  as  to  adulteration, 
there  cannot  fail  to  be  a  continual  increase  of  dyspepsia  and  dis- 
eases of  the  digestive  organs.  Boards  of  health  and  local  officers 
already  exercise  some  supervision  over  the  sale  of  pure  meats  and 
some  vegetables,  as  mushrooms,  and  it  would  be  wise  legislation  to 
extend  this  control  in  a  way  calculated  to  check  injurious  adul- 
teration. 


HOW    WE    OBTAIN    DRINKING-WATER 

The  citizens  of  ancient  Rome  knew  how  to  lead  water  from  a 
source  to  a  fountain,  public  bath,  or  the  like.  True,  they  had  no 
proper  pipes,  but  they  constructed  conduits  that  served  the  purpose, 
and  carried  the  water  to  the  dwellings  of  the  rich.  During  the 
eighteenth  century  wooden  and  leaden  pipes  were  used  to  a  consid- 
erable extent,  cast-iron  pipe  coming  into  use  towards  the  close  of 
the  century.  There  is  therefore  nothing  new  in  storing  water  in 
reservoirs  and  distributing  it  through  pipes  to  the  dwellers  of  a 
city.  Even  small  towns  now  have  their  water  supply,  and  the  more 
pretentious  country  residences  or  estates,  situated  at  a  distance 
from  a  city  or  town,  provide  minor  works  for  their  private  use. 

There  has  been  material  advance  in  methods,  however,  and 
residents  in  cities  never  drank  as  pure  water  as  they  generally  enjoy 
to-day,  nor  have  they  ever  before  enjoyed  such  thorough  protection 
from  fire  as  comes  from  the  modern  adequate  water  supply.  Hy- 
draulic engineers  and  boards  of  health  have  learned  how  to  test 
drinking-water  and  provide  for  its  purity  before  it  is  tried  on  the 
public,  and  cases  of  epidemic  caused  by  bad  water  are  now  rare. 
Water  supplies  are  commonly  subjected  to  both  chemical  and  physi- 
cal tests  to  determine  the  nature  of  the  impurities  and  their  harmful 
character.  The  tests  are  made  for  solid  matter,  chlorine,  and  free 
and  albuminoid  ammonia.  Forty  grains  per  gallon  of  solids  is  not 
considered  an  objectionable  quantity  for  the  water  to  carry  along, 
but  if  there  are  five  or  more  grains  of  chlorine  per  gallon,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  look  out  for  some  sewage  contamination.  A  single  grain 
of  chlorine  per  gallon  is  usually  caused  by  vegetable  contamination 
not  of  a  serious  character.  Albuminoid  ammonia  indicates  the 
presence  of  animal  matter,  as  does  free  ammonia.  A  fifth  of  a  grain 
of  iron  is  not  a  cause  for  disquiet,  nor  a  tenth  of  a  grain  of  lead  or 
copper. 

The  New  Jersey  State  Board  of  Health  has  issued  the  follow- 
ing directions  for  making  simple  tests  of  the  purity  of  drinking- 
water  : 

"  Color. — Fill  a  clean,  long  bottle  made  of  colorless  glass  with  the  water ; 
look  through  the  water  at  some  black  object;    the  water  should  appear  perfectly 
colorless  and  free  from  suspended  matter.     A  muddy  or  turbid  appearance  indi- 
cates the  presence  of  soluble  organic  matter  or  solid  matter  in  suspension. 
338 


HOW    WE    OBTAIN    DRINKING-WATER 


339 


■  Odor. — Empty  out  some  of  the  water,  leaving  the  bottle  half  full ;  cork 
up  the  bottle  and  place  it  for  a  few  hours  in  a  warm  place ;  shake  up  the  water, 
remove  the  cork  and  critically  smell  the  air  contained  in  the  bottle.     If  it  has 


The  Deane  Artesian  Engine  and  Pump. 

any  smell,  and  especially  if  the  odor  is  in  the  least  repulsive,  the  water  should  be 
rejected  for  domestic  use.  By  heating  the  water  to  boiling,  an  odor  is  evolved 
sometimes  that  otherwise  does  not  appear. 


340 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


"  Taste. — Water  fresh  from  the  well  is  usually  tasteless,  even  though  it  may 
contain  some  putrescible  organic  matter.  Water  for  domestic  use  should  be 
perfectly  tasteless,  and  remain  so  even  after  it  has  been  warmed,  since  warming 
often  develops  a  taste  in  water  which  is  tasteless  when  cold.  If  the  water  at  any 
time  has  a  repulsive  or  even  disagreeable  taste,  it  should  be  rejected. 

"  As  some  waters  of  dangerous  quality  fail  to  indicate  their  impurity  either 
by  smell  or  taste,  what  is  known  as  the  Heisch  test  is  of  value :  Fill  a  clean 
pint  bottle  three-quarters  full  with  the  water  to  be  tested ;  add  to  it  a  half- 
teaspoonful  of  clean  granulated  or  crushed  loaf  sugar ;  stop  the  bottle  with  a 
glass  stopper  or  a  clean  cork,  and  let  the  bottle  stand  in  the  light  in  a  moderately 
warm  room.  If  in  twenty-four  or  forty-eight  hours  the  water  becomes  cloudy 
or  milky,  it  is  unfit  for  domestic  use.  While  cloudiness  in  the  water  after  stand- 
ing certainly  indicates  unfitness  for  use,  yet  a  negative  result  does  not  prove  the 
water  to  be  good ;  because  the  test  often  fails  to  indicate  organic  matter  really 
present,  if  phosphates  are  absent." 

The  best  system  for  storing  and  delivering  water  is  to  dam 
up  some  mountain  stream,  forming  a  reservoir  or  lake,  into  which 
adjacent  farmers  are  not  allowed  to  drain,  and  to  pass  the  water 
through  filter-beds,  piping  it  in  iron  pipes  of  large  size  to  the 
consumers  by  simple  gravity.  Obviously  this  is  impractical  in 
many  cases ;  some  cities  have  to  depend  on  river  water,  and  not  all 
can  secure  never-failing  sources  of  supply  at  the  desired  elevation. 
Where  pumping  has  to  be  resorted  to,  there  is  a  choice  of  methods : 
the  water  may  be  pumped  to  a  reservoir,  whence  it  is  fed  by  gravity 
through  the  pipes,  or  it  may  be  pumped  to  a  stand-pipe,  or  it  may 
be  pumped  direct  into  the  mains.  Pumping  to  a  reservoir  is  the 
best  of  these  methods,  as  it  insures  a  storage  supply  in  case  of 
drought  or  accident  to  the  pumping  machinery.  Pumping  to  a 
stand-pipe  or  water-tower  is  resorted  to  usually  in  cases  where  there 
is  no  high  ground  on  which  a  reservoir  can  be  built.  Pumping 
direct  into  the  mains  is  a  method  resorted  to  only  to  save  a  large 
present  outlay,  and  is  a  dangerous  method,  because  of  the  chance 
of  failure  in  case  of  fire. 

The  amount  of  water  used  from  a  supply  in  extinguishing  fires 
is  small  in  comparison  to  the  total  use,  but  it  is  quite  as  important 
in  its  way,  for  in  a  city  the  certainty  of  the  water  supply  is  the  only 
safeguard  against  the  spread  of  a  fire.  In  providing  for  fire  pro- 
tection, the  mains  are  made  larger  than  is  required  for  ordinary 
house  service  or  manufacturing  use,  because  the  fire-hydrants  may 
demand  a  large  supply  of  water  in  a  short  time,  and,  as  they  also 
require  a  good  pressure,  the  mains  are  generally  strengthened  with 
this  object  in  view.  A  section  of  water-main,  say  1200  feet  long, 
and  supplying  sixty  dwellings,  would  involve  ordinarily  a  consump- 
tion of  about  600  gallons  of  water  daily ;  but  if  four  fire-hydrants 
are  placed  on  four  street  corners  to  draw  from  this  pipe,  and  the 


HOW    WE    OBTAIN    DRINKING-WATER 


341 


fire  department  takes  a  stream  from  each,  a  delivery  of  600  gallons 
per  minute  will  be  required  in  place  of  600  per  day,  and  in  this  case 
a  six-inch  pipe  drawing  water  from  both  ends  is  required  for  the 
service. 

Cast-iron  pipe  is  the  sort  commonly   used   for   water-mains, 
though  galvanized  wrought-iron  pipe  finds  some  use,  and  lead  pipe 


Stand-pipe,  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

is  generally  preferred  for  service-pipe — that  is,  the  pipe  connecting 
the  mains  with  the  pipes  in  the  buildings  served.  House-pipes  are 
also  commonly  of  lead,  which  is  convenient,  because  of  the  ease  with 
which  it  can  be  bent.  As  a  rule,  the  lead  does  not  damage  the  water 
for  drinking  purposes,  although,  where  water  has  not  been  drawn 
from  lead  pipes  for  several  days,  it  is  best  to  let  it  run  before  using, 
For  the  use  of  those  who  fear  lead  pipe,  it  is  often  tin-lined.     Con- 


342 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


nection  of  service-pipe  with  street  mains  is  made,  without  loss  or 
leakage  of  water,  by  means  of  drilling-  and  tapping-machines  spe- 
cially designed  for  the  purpose.  What  is  known  as  a  corporation 
stopcock  is  used  to  connect  the  main-  and  service-pipe,  and  where 
the  service-pipe  enters  upon  the  building  line  is  usually  another  stop- 
cock, where  the  water  can  be  turned  on  or  off. 

For  the  protection  of  water-mains  against  too  great  interior 
pressure,  which  might  burst  them  at  times,  pressure  relief-valves  are 
made,  which  act  automatically  when  the  pressure  reaches  a  certain 
point,  and  let  off  sufficient  water  to  reduce  the  pressure.  The  accu- 
mulation of  air  in  water-mains  is  avoided  by  air-valves,  that  collect 
the  air  at  certain  elevated  points  and  discharge  it  from  the  mains. 

Modern  stand-pipes  for  holding  water  so  as  to  give  a  pressure 
in  the  mains  are  made  of  steel-riveted  pipe  of  very  large  diameter, 
frequently  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet,  and  often  over  a  hundred  feet 
in  height.  A  cheaper  construction  consists  of  a  tower  of  steel 
girders,  bearing  a  water-tank  on  top. 

For  pumping  water  in  connection  with  a  reservoir  or  tank 
system,  any  common  type  of  steam-pump  may  be  used,  but  where 
there  is  a  very  large  amount  of  water  to  be  pumped  triple-expansion 
engines  are  preferred.  A  description  of  the  twin  engines  installed 
at  the  Baden  pumping-station  of  the  St.  Louis  water-works  will 
suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  what  they  are  like.  The  contract  pro- 
vided that  these  engines  should  each  have  a  capacity  of  10,000,000 
U.  S.  gallons  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  three  cylinders  are  of 
64-inch  stroke,  and  the  high-pressure  cylinder  is  of  thirty  inches 
diameter,  the  intermediate  cylinder  fifty-four  inches,  and  the  low- 
pressure  cylinder  eighty  inches  diameter.  They  are  vertical,  and 
have  single-acting  plungers.  To  retain  the  heat,  the  sides  of  the 
cylinders  are  jacketed,  and  on  top  of  the  jackets  and  over  all  other 
heated  surfaces  is  a  coating  of  two  inches  of  magnesia  and  two 
inches  of  hair  felt  enclosed  in  wood  lagging.  Corliss  valves  are 
used,  and  the  governor  controls  the  cut-off  of  the  high-pressure 
cylinder.  There  are  two  piston-rods  to  each  cylinder,  connecting 
to  a  four-cornered  crosshead,  having  the  connecting-rod  in  the 
centre  and  a  pump-rod  in  each  corner.  Eight  300  horse-power 
water-tube  boilers  supply  these  engines,  and  their  high  efficiency 
can  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  during  a  three-months'  test  the 
cost  of  the  coal  consumed  in  pumping  each  one  million  gallons  to 
an  elevation  of  one  foot  was  only  five  and  one-half  mills ! 

The  largest  water  supply  for  any  city  on  the  Western  continent 
is  that  for  New  York,  known  as  the  Croton  water  supply,  because  it 


344  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

originally  drew  its  water  from  the  Croton  River.  This  water-shed 
has  an  area  of  362  square  miles,  and,  the  annual  rainfall  being  forty- 
six  inches,  the  yearly  water  supply  is  about  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  billion  gallons.  The  old  Croton  reservoir  had  a  capacity  of 
only  one  billion  gallons ;  the  storage  basins  built  since  and  the  new 
Croton  Dam,  now  (1904)  approaching  completion,  will  give  a  total 
storage  capacity  of  about  75,000,000,000  gallons,  or  enough  to  re- 
tain the  rainfall  for  a  period  of  seven  months.  The  new  dam  is 
largely  excavated,  being  carried  down  130  feet  below  the  original 
bed  of  the  river.  As  the  lower  courses  of  the  dam  are  set  into  the 
rock  foundations,  and  as  it  rises  160  feet  above  the  old  river  bed, 
its  total  height  is  300  feet  at  the  deepest  portion.  The  length  of 
the  crest  is  1050  feet,  and  the  spillway  is  1000  feet  long.  This  is 
one  of  the  greatest  dams  in  the  world. 

Large  dams  are  commonly  built  with  walls  or  sides  of  masonry, 
and  a  centre  or  core  also  of  masonry,  the  filling  being  of  earth.  The 
masonry  is  depended  upon  to  keep  the  water  out,  and  the  weight  of 
the  earth  furnishes  the  resistance  to  the  pressure  of  the  water.  Steel 
and  concrete  have  been  introduced  in  some  dams  recently  with  prom- 
ising results. 

In  proportion  to  the  number  of  people  served  the  most  costly 
water- works  in  the  world  has  just  been  finished  at  the  gold  fields 
in  the  Kalgoorlie  district,  Australia.  Away  back  in  the  mountains, 
328  miles  away,  are  gathered  the  clear,  sweet  waters,  and  conducted 
across  deserts  and  salt  lakes,  over  hills,  and  through  "deep  valleys, 
it  at  last  finds  its  way  to  the  thirsty  gold  fields,  where  the  only  water 
the  earth  yields  is  salt  and  poisonous.  Heretofore  the  people  have 
had  to  depend  on  what  water  could  be  caught  during  occasional 
showers,  but  there  was  always  the  impending  danger  of  a  water 
famine,  and  it  was  ever  used  very  sparingly.  The  pipe  line  now  laid 
is  thirty  inches  in  diameter,  and  will  afford  an  ample  supply  for  the 
50,000  people  in  the  mines.  A  remarkable  problem  in  the  work 
was  to  raise  the  water  2700  feet  during  its  journey.  This  is  accom- 
plished by  eight  pumping-stations  which  alone  cost  $1,500,000.  In 
the  mountains  great  reservoirs  have  been  built  seven  miles  long. 


SOME   INTERESTING   ENGINEERING   ENTERPRISES 

Among  the  most  difficult  problems  which  at  times  confront  the 
modern  engineer  are  those  pertaining  to  the  construction  of  works 
designed  for  maintaining,  controlling,  or  damming  large  bodies  of 
water.  The  well-known  Mississippi  jetties  have  involved  an  expen- 
diture of  millions  in  the  work  of  keeping  a  clear  channel  among 
the  shifting  sands  at  the  mouth  of  the  "  father  of  waters."  The 
work  of  dredging  and  ditching  at  Panama  is  likely  to  cost  consid- 
erably more  than  a  hundred  million  dollars  and  to  require  twelve 
or  fifteen  years'  time.  But  we  will  not  dwell  on  these,  because  so 
much  has  already  been  written  about  the  jetties,  and  because  it  is 
too  soon  to  write  intelligently  about  conditions  at  Panama. 

Turning  to  the  Old  World,  we  find  that  there  is  being  under- 
taken in  Holland  a  work  second  only  in  magnitude  to  that  of  Pan- 
ama. More  than  eight  hundred  years  ago  the  tempestuous  North 
Sea  invaded  Holland,  sweeping  away  and  dissolving  the  sand 
islands  north  of  Amsterdam  and  flooding  the  low  lands.  There 
were  several  floods  during  the  period  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
years  following  1170,  the  date  of  the  first  disastrous  inundation, 
and  the  total  result  was  the  formation  of  the  Zuyder  Zee.  Land 
is  valuable  in  Holland,  because  the  country  is  small  and  thickly 
populated,  and  the  shallow  Zuyder  Zee  is  known  to  cover  a  great 
many  square  miles  of  alluvial  land,  which  if  recovered  would  yield 
large  crops  to  the  farmers,  owing  to  the  rich  mud  deposited  there 
during  the  centuries  of  immersion. 

The  method  which  has  been  decided  upon  for  recovering  this 
land  is  to  build  an  enormous  dyke  across  the  mouth  or  outer  en- 
trance that  separates  the  Zuyder  Zee  from  the  waters  of  old  ocean. 
This  dyke  is  a  tremendous  undertaking,  as  its  total  length  is  twenty- 
five  miles,  and  it  must  be  built  with  such  absolute  and  known 
strength  and  solidity  that  there  will  not  be  the  slightest  danger  that 
the  most  serious  gale  blowing  in  from  the  North  Sea  can  make  a 
breach  that  will  endanger  the  lives  of  those  who  settle  on  the  re- 
claimed land  that  it  protects.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  some,  sand 
is  the  principal  material  of  which  this  dyke  is  to  be  composed.  Great 
mats  of  interwoven  twigs  are  to  be  made  and  towed  to  the  line  of 
the  dyke,  and  there  sunk  and  loaded  with  enough  stones  to  keep 
the  mat  in  position  while  the  sand  is  being  poured  on.     Engineers 

346 


SOME    INTERESTING    ENGINEERING    ENTERPRISES         347 

have  learned  that  an  accumulation  of  a  great  many  of  these  mats 
gives  a  hold  to  the  sand,  which  tends  to  accumulate  at  such  an 
obstruction  rather  than  to  be  washed  away  from  it. 

Piles  will  be  driven  at  points  where  they  are  deemed  necessary 
to  strengthen  the  structure,  and  when  it  is  formed  it  is  to  be  faced 
on  the  open  side  with  stones  so  that  the  water  will  not  tend  to  wear 
it  away.  The  dyke  will  rise  sixteen  feet  above  high-water  mark, 
and  will  support  a  railway  and  driveways  along  its  top.  At  the 
mean  water  level  it  will  be  190  feet  wide.  Several  sluice-ways  will 
be  placed  in  the  dyke  for  the  passage  of  vessels  by  means  of  locks 
to  an  interior  lake,  which  is  to  be  left  at  a  level  several  yards  below 
that  of  the  ocean. 

The  plan  is  to  reclaim  or  "  impolder"  (as  the  Dutch  say)  only 
about  two-thirds  of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  the  rest  remaining  as  a  fresh- 
water lake  fed  by  the  river  Yssel.  The  ''  polders,"  or  sections  of 
new  land,  will  be  protected  by  dykes,  that  will  be  built  every  few 
years,  so  as  to  take  in  more  land  as  it  is  wanted.  When  a  polder  is 
dyked  it  has  to  be  pumped  out,  a  work  that  involves  a  large  ex- 
penditure of  both  time  and  money.  The  cost  of  the  great  dyke 
shutting  out  the  sea  will  be  something  over  $11,000,000,  and  the 
works  contingent  upon  this,  as  the  building  of  a  canal,  some  locks 
especially  designed  for  the  navy,  a  subsidy  to  fishermen,  etc.,  will 
swell  the  total  cost  of  shutting  out  the  sea  to  $23,000,000. 

A  total  of  two  hundred  miles  more  of  dykes  require  to  be  built 
to  enclose  the  several  sections  of  land  that  are  to  be  reclaimed. 
These  are  to  be  built  in  successive  periods,  one  being  completed 
every  six  or  eight  years,  the  intention  being  not  to  complete  the 
whole  work  before  1936.  The  first  polder,  which  is  the  smallest, 
will  recover  53,600  acres  of  land,  and  will  cost  about  $5,000,000. 
The  pumping  out  of  the  water  after  the  dykes  are  built  is  one  of 
the  most  stupendous  undertakings  known  in  the  history  of  hydraulic 
engineering.  After  the  pumping  once  begins,  about  seventy  million 
tons  a  year  of  water  will  require  to  be  pumped  out  until  the  work 
is  completed.  The  cost  of  the  dykes  for  the  polders,  with  the  ex- 
penditure for  pumping  out  the  water,  will  involve  a  total  of  $53,- 
000,000,  or  $76,000,000  as  the  whole  sum  spent  on  the  recovery 
of  the  land.  When  the  land  has  all  been  regained,  it  is  estimated 
that  the  expense  to  the  government  per  acre  of  land  obtained  will 
be  $211.  This  land  will  be  leased  to  small  farmers  and  others  at 
$9.50  an  acre,  which  will  pay  four  and  a  half  per  cent,  on  the 
investment. 

Egypt  is  undergoing  something  of  a  transformation,   owing 


i:. 


MrtP'*^ 


SOME    INTERESTING    ENGINEERING    ENTERPRISES 


349 


to  the  enormous  dams  now  building  on  the  Nile  for  the  purpose 
of  impounding  or  reserving  the  water  during  the  season  of  floods 
and  using  it  to  irrigate  and  render  fertile  some  2500  square  miles 
of  land.  Two  dams  are  now  completed,  one  at  Assouan  and  the 
other  at  Assiut.  The  Assouan  dam  is  more  than  a  mile  in  width, 
and  the  central  portion  is  provided  with  large  sluices  built  of  steel 
and  backed  with  masonry.  There  are  180  of  these,  each  about  eight 
feet  wide,  which  are  sufficient  to  allow  the  surplus  water  to  pass. 


Courtesy  Electrical  World  and  Engineer. 

Dam  at  Spier  Falls. 

At  high  water  about  900  tons  of  water  will  pass  through  these 
sluices  every  minute. 

It  is  an  interesting  historical  fact  that  the  stone  for  this  dam 
was  taken  from  the  same  quarry  that  supplied  the  temple  of  Philas 
and  Cleopatra's  Needle,  and  that  when  the  engineers  began  taking 
out  the  granite  blocks  they  found  the  marks  of  the  wedges  used  by 
the  Egyptians  thirty  centuries  ago  in  splitting  the  stone. 

The  dam  at  Assiut  looks  like  a  row  of  small  round  towers. 
Why  this  peculiar  construction  was  adopted  the  writer  has  been 


350 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


unable  to  ascertain,  but  the  artistic  appearance  of  the  dam  is  much 
enhanced  by  the  semicircular  fronts  of  the  piers.  Other  dams  are 
to  be  added,  and  when  the  work  is  completed  the  final  cost  will  be 
not  less  than  $25,000,000.  Native  laborers  are  employed  to  the 
number  of  25,000,  working  in  day  and  night  shifts,  for  about  a 
dollar  a  week  each,  in  addition  to  their  board. 

A  noteworthy  dam  that  is  approaching  completion  in  1904  is 
located  at  Spier  Falls,  on  the  upper  part  of  the  Hudson  River.  This 
dam  is  a  third  of  a  mile  across  the  top,  and  measures  156  feet  from 
bed-rock  to  crest,  having  a  base  width  of  1 15  feet.  It  supplies  water 
to  a  power-house  of  50,000  horse-power  capacity,  this  being  equal 
to  the  original  installation  of  the  famous  Niagara  Falls  power  plant. 
The  water  is  carried  by  ten  steel  tubes,  each  twelve  feet  in  diameter, 
to  a  series  of  turbines  directly  connected  to  generators,  each  having 


A  Sea-Goiii 


5000  horse-power  capacity.  The  head,  or  fall  of  water  available 
for  driving  the  turbines,  is  ninety  feet.  It  is  a  little  remarkable  that 
the  cost  of  this  great  plant  is  only  about  $2,000,000.  The  power 
will  be  sold  to  towns  and  cities  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles,  as 
Glens  Falls,  Saratoga,  Albany,  Troy,  Schenectady,  and  Water- 
vliet. 

In  the  construction  of  engineering  works,  such  as  those  we 
have  been  describing,  dredges  and  steam-shovels  take  an  important 
part.  Dredges  are  of  several  types.  What  is  known  as  the  ladder- 
dredge  has  an  endless  chain  of  buckets,  the  lower  end  of  which  is 
dragged  or  supported  on  a  river  bottom,  from  which  the  moving 
buckets  scoop  up  the  mud,  bringing  it  to  the  surface  and  dumping 
it  in  the  scows.  Such  dredges  are  mounted  on  floats  or  steamboats, 
and  some  of  them  are  equipped  for  making  ocean  voyages.  At 
this  date  Europe  is  in  advance  of  America  in  the  construction  of 


352 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


large  dredges  of  this  sort,  though  perhaps  the  development  of 
machinery  for  the  Panama  canal  will  enable  us  to  catch  up  with 
them  in  the  manufacture.  The  speed  and  economy  with  which 
these  great  machines  can  operate  under  good  conditions  are  in- 
stanced by  some  dredging  done  at  Montreal  a  few  years  ago,  when 
about  one  million  yards  of  blue  clay  were  removed  from  the  harbor 
bottom  at  a  cost  of  less  than  three  cents  a  yard. 

The  dipper-dredge  is  the  type  commonly  used  on  the  great 
fresh-water  lakes  in  America.  The  Bucyrus  Company  build  a  dou- 
ble-dipper machine  which  makes  two  dips  a  minute  in  twenty  feet 
of  water,  so  that  when  operating  at  full  speed  it  may  remove  720 
yards  of  mud  in  an  hour.  This  system  is  favored  in  the  search  for 
gold-bearing  sands  in  river  bottoms.  The  hydraulic  or  suction 
dredge  is  simply  a  tube  whose  lower  end  is  placed  in  the  mud  or 
sand  of  a  river  bottom,  when  a  strong  suction  or  pumping  draws 
up  the  mud  and  sand  from  the  river  bottom.  The  clamshell  or  grap- 
ple type  of  dredge,  of  which  the  Hayward  "  orange-peel"  bucket 
is  an  example,  is  operated  very  much  like  a  steam-shovel,  except 
that  it  grips  around  and  encloses  its  load  instead  of  scooping  it  up. 

America  leads  the  world  in  the  use  and  manufacture  of  steam- 
shovels,  such  as  are  mounted  on  railway  cars  for  digging  out  em- 
bankments, or  mounted  on  special  track  for  digging  canals,  trenches, 
etc.  The  American  type  of  shovel  for  railway  use  differs  from  the 
English  in  that  its  framework  is  a  railway  car,  complete  with  a 
powerful  engine,  tackle,  etc.,  while  the  British  shovel  is  built  sepa- 
rately, to  be  rolled  on  a  flat-car,  and  sometimes  to  be  operated  by 
a  separate  engine.  An  average  American  railway  steam-shovel 
weighs  about  150,000  pounds,  and  carries  a  dipper  of  four  yards' 
capacity.  When  it  is  used  to  load  earth  on  flat-cars  for  filling-in 
embankments,  the  usual  plan  is  to  run  in  a  train  of  perhaps  twenty 
or  twenty-five  cars,  loading  each  one  as  it  comes  up  with  the  shovel, 
each  car  taking  about  six  shovelfuls.  If  the  earth  or  gravel  is  in 
good  condition,  and  it  does  not  have  to  be  carried  more  than  a  few 
miles,  such  an  outfit  will  handle  3000  to  4000  cubic  yards  of  earth 
in  a  day  at  a  cost  of  six  cents  per  yard.  If  flat-cars  are  used,  they 
may  be  unloaded  with  the  rapid  unloader  or  travelling  plow,  made 
by  Lidgerwood,  as  shown  in  the  illustration,  or  if  Goodwin  steel 
cars  are  employed  for  carrying  the  earth,  it  can  be  dumped  auto- 
matically while  the  train  is  in  motion,  the  speed  of  the  train  deter- 
mining the  amount  that  is  dropped  at  a  given  point.  When  the 
earth  has  been  filled  in  at  the  sides  of  a  track  it  may  be  shaped  or 
smoothed  by  a  grading-machine,  as  that  shown  in  the  illustration. 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 

The  novel  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  often 
depicted  as  a  hero  the  poor  and  talented  artist  or  painter.  He  was 
always  poor,  because  there  were  so  few  people  to  buy  his  pictures. 


Courteiy  bLienli 


The  Press  of  Gutenberg. 


To-day  the  profession  of  the  artist  is  one  of  the  most  remunerative,, 
because  advance  in  the  art  of  printing  has  made  it  possible  to  repro- 
duce the  artist's  work  at  small  expense,  so  that  thousands  of  copies 
may  be  circulated,  and  every  buyer  of  a  magazine  or  illustrated 
newspaper  becomes  a  patron  of  art,  contributing  his  mite  to  the 
support  of  the  artist. 

354 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 


355 


The  men  who  helped  to  bring  about  this  great  change  have 
been  ranked  rather  as  artisans  than  artists,  though  artists  in  the 
highest  sense  very  many  of  them  have  been — artists  in  the  sense 
that  they  practised  their  art,  engraving  or  printing,  with  an  artistic 
sense,  putting  their  brains  in  with  their  mechanical  work  to  secure 
the  best  results.  If  he  who  paints  a  great  picture  be  entitled  to 
encomiums,  is  not  equal  praise  due  the  man  who  makes  thousands 
of  accurate  copies  of  the  great  picture,  that  it  may  please  the  eyes 
of  millions? 

Printing  has  been  called  the  art  preservative  of  all  other  arts, 
because  without  it  we  should  be  unable  to  impart  to  new  generations 


Courtesy  Scientific  A 


Photo-Engraver's  Photographic  Apparatus. 


the  growth  in  knowledge  of  preceding  generations.  Of  all  the  arts, 
none  has  made  more  progress  in  a  generation' than  the  printing  art. 
I  use  printing  here  in  the  broad  sense  of  reproduction  of  pictures 
or  print  by  any  process,  for  the  methods  are  numerous,  and  many 
new  words  have  been  coined  to  name  these  sub-processes,  if  I  may 
so  name  them. 

Photo-engraving  stands  pre-eminent  as  the  centre  of  develop- 
ment of  modern  printing.  Around  its  introduction  cluster  a  major- 
ity of  the  salient  features  that  make  the  art  of  printing  what  it  is 
to-day.  Photo-engraving  brought  the  camera  to  the  aid  of  the 
printing-press,  enabling  the  two  to  work  in  unison,  and  let  the 


35^ 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


world  see  what  is  seen  by  the  mihions  of  photographic  lenses  con- 
stantly at  work. 

Let  us  read  a  little  printing  history,  that  the  methods  of  modern 
printing  may  be  more  clearly  understood.  Photo-engraving  was  a 
name  originally  applied  to  the  art  now  known  as  photo-etching.  This 
consisted  essentially  in  making  a  pen-and-ink  drawing,  photograph- 
ing this  on  a  zinc  plate,  and  then  etching  the  plate  so  that  the  light 
parts  were  eaten  away,  and  the  lines  equivalent  to  the  drawing 
allowed  to  stand  up  in  relief,  thus  giving  a  plate  that  could  be 
printed  from  on  an  ordinary  printing-press,  with  a  form  of  type. 

This  was  a  marked  advance  on  wood-engraving,  because  it  was 
cheaper,  could  be  done  more  quickly,  and  permitted  a  higher  grade 


Stripping  the  Plate. 

of  illustration.  The  pen  drawing  could  be  made  several  times  larger 
than  the  final  print,  the  photograph  securing  the  reduction,  and  this 
made  it  possible  to  do  finer  work,  with  closer  lines  and  minuter 
accuracy,  than  was  possible  with  the  wood  engraver,  be  he  ever  so 
expert. 

The  next  advance  in  photo-engraving  was  the  gelatin  process. 
This  did  away  with  the  need  of  a  pen  drawing,  reproducing  directly 
from  a  photograph.  The  method  involves  briefly  photographing 
on  a  gelatin  film,  those  portions  of  the  film  exposed  to  the  light 
becoming  insoluble  in  water,  whereas  the  portions  on  which  the 
photographic  shades  fall  are  soluble.  As  a  result,  the  gelatin  film 
may  be  immersed  in  water  and  all  the  dots  become  raised.     When 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 


357 


the  film  dries,  they  remain  raised,  and  a  plate  or  cast  may  be  repro- 
duced from  this  film,  in  which  the  dots  of  the  photograph  are  in 
relief,  and  can  be  printed  from.  Thus  is  secured  what  is  for  all 
practical  purposes  a  photographic  plate  suited  to  the  printing-press 
for  the  cheap  reproduction  of  photographs. 

From  a  number  of  photo-engraving  processes  practised  between 
1870  and  1890,  the  half-tone  process  proved  the  most  acceptable, 
and  is  in  common  use  to-day.  To  secure  perfection  of  results,  con- 
stant care  and  the  practice  of  numerous  sub-processes  are  requisite. 
The  most  desirable  copy  to  work  from  is  either  a  good  photograph 


Photographing-  with  Prismatic  Reflector. 

O,  original  drawing  ;  P,  prismatic  reflector  ;  L,  lens  ;  S,  half-tone  screen  ;  N,  negative  plate. 

In  actual  work  the  negative  and  screen  are  closer  together. 

or  a  wash-drawing  made  larger  than  the  final  plate  is  to  be.  If  it 
is  a  photograph,  and  a  fine  result  is  wanted,  it  is  usually  retouched 
by  an  artist  who  understands  what  is  necessary  to  secure  the  best 
results  by  this  process.  The  photographic  copy  is  then  fastened 
on  a  copy-board  set  up  vertically  or  at  right  angles  to  the  camera 
bed,  in  a  position  to  secure  the  desired  size  of  plate.  The  position 
of  the  lined  screen  and  glass  plate  with  reference  to  the  lens  and 
photographic  copy  are  shown  in  the  illustration  of  a  prismatic  re- 
flector. The  reflector  twists  the  image,  preventing  the  distortion 
that  comes  when  the  negative  is  "  floated"  ofif. 

The  ruled  screen,  or  half-tone  screen,  as  it  is  more  often  called, 
is  made  of  two  plates  of  glass,  each  of  which  has  been  ruled  on  one 


358 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


side  and  cemented  with  the  ruled  faces  together,  the  ruHngs  being 
arranged  to  cross  at  an  angle.  This  screen  causes  the  shadow  of  the 
picture,  known  as  the  image,  to  appear  on  the  collodion  sensitized 
j)late  in  a  series  of  minute  dots,  because  the  light  has  been  broken  by 
the  crossed  lines  of  the  screen.  The  shape  of  these  dots  varies  con- 
siderably, and  in  the  light  parts  of  the  picture  they  appear  very 
small,  while  in  the  dark  parts  they  approach  each  other  to  the  point 
of  contact.  To  produce  a  fine  picture,  to  be  printed  on  very  smooth- 
surfaced  paper,  the  screen  may  have  lines  as  close  as  250  to  the 


inch,  but  for  average  magazine  work  150  to  175  lines  per  inch  are 
employed,  while  for  newspapers,  printed  rapidly  on  coarse  paper, 
rulings  from  75  to  100  to  the  inch  are  sufficient. 

A  100-line  screen  gives  10,000  dots  to  the  square  inch,  and 
when  the  finished  plate  or  the  print  is  examined  under  a  magnifying- 
glass,  it  will  be  seen  that  while  the  picture  greatly  resembles  an 
ordinary  photograph,  that  its  dark  and  light  places  are  made  simply 
by  the  variation  in  the  size  or  blackness  of  the  dots.  The  distance  be- 
tween the  dots,  measured  from  centre  to  centre,  is  uniform,  but  the 
amount  of  white  space  between  them  is  greatest  in  the  light  parts  of 
the  picture,  while  the  dots  run  together  in  the  solid  blacks.  After 
the  glass-plate  negative  is  exposed  for  photographing,  it  receives 


THE   ART    PRESERVATIVE    OF   ALL    OTHER   ARTS  359 

treatment  in  the  dark-room  much  Hke  that  of  any  other  negative. 
After  the  negative  has  dried  it  is  covered  with  a  rubber  solution, 
and  this  is  follov^^ed  by  a  coat  of  coUodion  for  securing  greater  body 
to  permit  of  the  negative  being  handled  with  less  danger  of  injury. 

The  polishing  of  the  copper  plate  is  done  with  willow  charcoal 
and  water  until  the  highest  possible  finish  is  secured.  It  is  next 
sensitized  with  collodion  in  a  whirler,  which  is  a  device  for  rotating 
it  rapidly  in  a  horizontal  position,  with  the  result  that  a  little  collo- 
dion poured  on  the  plate  is  evenly  distributed  over  its  surface  by 


Courtesy  Scientific  A' 


Taklijrr  a  Proof. 


centrifugal  force.  The  copper  plate  is  then  printed  on  photograph- 
ically from  the  glass-plate  negative  in  a  somewhat  modified  photog- 
rapher's printing--frame.  Either  sunlight  or  electric  light  may  be 
used,  sunlight  doing  the  quicker  work.  After  printing,  the  image 
is  developed  by  placing  it  under  running  water.  This  image  is 
burnt  in  over  a  gas  stove,  when  the  plate  is  ready  for  the  etching 
bath.  It  is  immersed  in  chloride  of  iron,  and  the  parts  that  are  to 
appear  white  in  the  print  are  eaten  away,  leaving  the  dots  that  are 
to  print  higher,  so  that  these  alone  will  receive  ink  on  the  printing- 
press. 

A  press  proof  is  then  taken,  after  which  the  plate  goes  to  the 


360  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

router,  who  cuts  out  any  parts  that  are  not  to  show  in  the  print,  as 
the  edges,  when  it  is  desired  to  produce  a  vignette  effect.  If  a  black 
Hue  is  to  be  run  around  the  picture  as  a  border,  this  is  done  by  pass- 
ing it  to  the  bevelhng-machine,  which  makes  the  Hne  with  a  bevelled 
cutter. 

At  this  point  the  work  ceases  on  a  cheap  half-tone  plate,  but 
on  the  best  ones  the  "  finishing"  is  often  the  most  expensive  part 
of  the  labor.  The  finisher  paints  out  with  asphaltum  varnish  those 
parts  of  the  picture  which  his  artistic  judgment  suggests  had  better 
remain  as  black  as  they  are,  and  leaves  unpainted  the  parts  that 
are  to  be  re-etched,  to  make  them  lighter.  He  also  examines  the 
plate  for  minor  imperfections  and  corrects  them.  The  extreme  high 
lights  he  cuts  out  with  a  graver,  or  often  takes  out  every  second 
row  of  dots.  After  the  re-etching,  if  any  of  the  shadows  are  not 
of  a  sufficiently  solid  black,  they  are  made  so  by  burnishing.  When 
the  plate  is  pronounced  perfect,  it  is  usually  nailed  on  a  wooden 
block  of  the  proper  size,  so  that  the  plate  and  block  together  will 
be  just  the  height  of  type.  The  photo-engraving  is  then  complete, 
and  may  be  printed  from  in  a  form  with  type  or  may  be  incorpo- 
rated w^ith  a  type  page  and  electrotyped  to  form  a  page  of  a  maga- 
zine or  the  like. 

The  half-tone  process  has  not  only  cheapened  illustrations,  but 
has  resulted  in  making  them  vastly  better  and  more  artistic  in 
quality.  The  newspaper  pictures  of  1904  are  better  than  were  the 
magazine  pictures  of  1865,  ^^^  ^^e  magazine  pictures  of  to-day 
are  better  than  were  the  so-called  art  productions  of  a  dozen  years 
ago,  while  the  once  famous  steel  engraving  is  being  relegated  to 
garrets  and  waste-baskets  before  the  now  common  and  every  way 
more  beautiful  half-tone  copper  plate.  The  character  of  magazines 
and  weekly  periodicals  has  entirely  changed  through  the  introduc- 
tion of  high-grade  illustrations  at  moderate  cost.  These  are  now 
picture-books,  and  the  publications  that  have  not  taken  to  using 
them  liberally  are  few  indeed.  To  photo-engraving  we  also  owe 
the  beautiful  three-color  printing  process,  which  we  shall  discuss 
farther  on. 

The  half-tone  illustration  has  had  a  marked  effect  upon  the 
development  of  printing-presses  and  upon  paper  making.  To  print 
them  clearly  requires  a  smooth-surfaced  paper,  and  one  of  the  first 
things  that  the  printer  learned  when  he  began  to  use  half-tones  was 
that  his  paper  was  too  rough  and  irregular  in  surface  to  receive  a 
perfect  impression  from  all  the  minute  dots  of  the  plate,  the  correct 
printing  of  which  is  essential  to  the  making  of  a  good  picture.    The 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 


361 


paper-maker  supplied  this  want  by  introducing  a  paper  coated  with 
a  mixture  consisting  essentiaUy  of  clay  and  glue,  that  filled  the  inter- 
stices of  the  surface,  making  it  smooth  and  glossy.     This  coated 


The  Cottrell  Cylinder  Press. 


paper  receives  half-tone  impressions  admirably,  but  unfortunately 
it  cracks  with  handling  or  doubling,  so  that  its  durability  is  seriously 
reduced.  The  demand  for  a  non-cracking  paper  that  is  also  less 
costly  than  coated,  is  met  by  calendering  the  ordinary  book  paper — 


The  Campbell  Company's  New  Century  Press. 

that  is,  compressing  it  between  hot  steel  cylinders  to  the  last  degree 
of  hardness.  This  gives  a  paper  that  reproduces  half-tones  easily, 
and  is  in  very  common  use. 

The  half-tone  plate  has  a  greater  printing  surface  than  a  wood 


362 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


cut  or  line  drawing,  and,  as  there  are  frequently  a  great  number  of 
half-tones  in  a  single  form  for  printing,  their  use  entails  greater 
impressional  power  in  the  printing-press.  As  soon  as  half-tones 
became  common  there  was  a  demand  for  stronger  and  heavier 
printing-presses  to  reproduce  them  to  the  best  advantage.  The 
inking  devices  required  remodelling  and  the  impressional  power  or 
squeeze  had  to  be  doubled  and  quadrupled.     This  change  has  gone 


The  Scott  C\  Under  Press. 


on  gradually,  until  the  cylinder  press,  on  which  the  great  bulk  of 
pictorial  printing  is  done,  has  been  metamorphosed. 

Printing-machines  are  still  called  presses  by  American  printers, 
and  the  men  who  operate  them  are  pressmen,  although  the  original 
type  of  machine,  which  really  w^as  a  press — meaning  the  Washing- 
ton hand-press — has  been  long  discarded  except  for  taking  proofs. 
The  modern  press  is  really  a  cylinder  machine,  in  England  called 


\    IS 


The  Scott  "  All-^{ze       Kutaiy  Press 

by  printers  "  the  machine,"  and  is  more  properly  though  less  com- 
monly called  a  cylinder,  after  the  most  important  part.  The  typical 
])rinting-machine  now  is  the  two-revolution  bed  and  cylinder  ma- 
chine. Among  the  best  known  makes  are  the  Miehle,  Century, 
Scott,  Cottrell,  Optimus,  and  Whitlock  machines. 

Tlie  leading  presses  for  printing  magazines  of  large  circulation 
have  been  provided  by  the  Cottrell s,  who  have  built  a  line  of  success- 


364  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

ful  i^erfecting  presses,  printing  the  second  side  of  the  paper  imme- 
diately after  the  first,  at  the  same  passage  through  the  machine. 
For  newspapers  of  medium  circulation  the  Scott  web  machines  and 
Campbell  model  webs,  and  Cox  duplex  presses  are  commonly  used. 
Small  printing  is  still  done  on  machines  of  the  style  introduced  by 
George  P.  Gordon  fifty  years  ago,  though  higher  grades  of  work  are 
done  on  the  Golding;,  Universal,  and  Colt's  Armory  machines. 

In  printing  of  the  best  grade,  as  from  fine  half-tone  blocks,  a 
great  deal  of  time  is  spent  by  the  pressman  in  what  is  termed 
"  making  ready."  This  work  consists  in  first  levelling  his  form  by 
reducing  any  blocks  that  may  be  too  high,  and  in  bringing  up  to  the 
general  level  all  the  parts  that  are  slightly  low.  This  is  done  by 
underlaying,  that  is  pasting  bits  of  paper  under  the  blocks  wherever 
they  show  the  least  weakness  of  impression,  which  to  the  trained 
eye  of  the  pressman  conveys  the  information  that  they  are  too  low. 
When  the  form  is  brought  to  a  true  surface,  what  is  known  as  a 
flat  impression  is  secured.  This  prints  the  type  and  illustrations  as 
they  really  are,  and  for  type  printing  is  all  that  is  desired,  but  for 
illustrations  the  pressman  must  do  better  to  secure  artistic  results. 
He  must  bring  more  pressure  to  bear  on  the  dark  parts  of  his 
pictures,  and  less  on  the  light  parts.  By  the  judicious  and  pains- 
taking application  of  overlays  and  underlays  of  very  thin  paper,  he 
produces  fine  effects  at  the  expenditure  of  a  great  deal  of  time.  A 
form  of  sixteen  pages,  well  filled  with  illustrations,  often  requires 
ten  hours  of  make-ready,  and  in  the  case  of  the  very  highest  grade 
of  work  three  or  four  times  as  many  hours  may  be  consumed  before 
the  effects  are  considered  as  perfect  as  can  be  had,  and  the  machine 
is  allowed  to  proceed  with  the  actual  work  of  printing.  This  time 
is  reduced  somewhat  by  the  use  of  patent  blankets,  containing  wire, 
rubber,  etc.,  to  give  them  springiness. 

The  most  important  advance  in  printing  machinery  since  1890 
has  been  the  development  and  success  of  composing-machines,  for 
doing  the  work  of  the  typesetter  or  compositor.  By  far  the  most 
successful  of  these  machines  is  the  linotype,  invented  by  Ottmar 
Mergenthaler,  which  does  not  set  type  at  all,  but  forms  lines  in 
solid  slugs.  An  operator  at  a  keyboard  somewhat  like  that  of  a 
typewriter  fingers  the  keys  for  a  line,  and  a  series  of  matrices  are 
assembled.  These  matrices  are  flat  pieces  of  brass,  about  an  inch 
in  the  longest  dimension,  and  bear  on  one  face  the  reversed  and 
indented  form  of  a  type-face.  When  a  line  of  these  matrices  is 
brought  together  in  the  linotype,  the  operator  pulls  a  lever  and  goes 
on  fingering  his  keyboard,  while  the  machine  automatically  conveys 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 


365 


the  matrices  to  the  face  of  a  mould,  clamps  them  tightly  over  it, 
makes  a  cast  in  a  metal  alloy  resembling  Babbitt  metal  and  delivers 
its  "  line-o'-type"  on  a  galley  ready  to  be  put  in  a  form  and  printed 
from.  After  casting,  the  matrices  are  carried  automatically  to  the 
top  of  the  machine,  finding  the  proper  channels  in  the  magazine  by 
means  of  different  arrangements  of  nicks  in  the  head  of  each  matrix. 
At  first  the  linotype  was  confined  to  the  use  of  ninety  char- 
acters, there  being  that  many  channels  in  the  magazine;   but  by  an 


The  Linotype. 


arrangement  for  handling  two-letter  matrices  in  the  machine,  its 
capacity  was  doubled,  and  it  became  practical  to  set  italics  and  small 
capitals  on  the  machine,  and  also  the  minor  headings,  as  for  a  news- 
paper. The  latest  improvement,  introduced  in  1903,  is  a  double- 
magazine  machine,  which  is  supplied  with  two-letter  matrices,  giving 
a  capacity  of  360  characters  in  one  machine,  and  enabling  the  com- 
position of  from  four  to  six  faces  of  type  from  the  one  keyboard. 

The  Simplex  type-setting  machine,  which  is  the  name  given 
the  improved  Thorne,  is  the  only  machine  for  setting  the  same  type 
that  the  compositor  sets  that  ever  came  largely  into  use.     Its  only 


366 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


drawback  has  been  the  wage  cost.  As  the  Thorne,  it  required  two 
men  and  a  boy  for  its  operation,  and  as  the  Simplex,  either  two 
persons  or  a  reduced  output  with  one  person.  The  types  are  placed 
in  the  grooves  of  an  upright  cylinder,  and  thrown  into  a  raceway  by 
fino-erino-  the  keyboard.  Though  the  distribution  is  automatic,  yet 
the  justification,  or  even  spacing  of  the  lines,  is  done  by  hand,  and 


Lauston  Monotype  Kesboard. 


it  is  this  which  increases  the  wage  cost 


Nevertheless,  the  simplicity 
of  the  machine  and  its  low  cost  have  given  it  a  large  sale.  A  justi- 
fying mechanism  is  shortly  to  be  added  to  the  machine. 

The  Lanston  monotype  machine  casts  and  sets  type,  remelting 
it  at  every  operation,  to  avoid  distribution.  A  keyboard  with  a 
punching  attachment  is  used  to  perforate  a  paper  tape,  the  combi- 
nations of  holes  in  which  represent  letters  and  characters.  This 
tape  is  taken  to  the  casting-  and  setting-machine,  which  is  largely 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 


367 


automatic.  The  paper  is  fed  backward  into  the  caster,  that  is,  the 
last  word  of  the  article  is  the  first  set.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that 
the  last  word  was  "  end."  The  combination  of  holes  in  the  tape 
allows  certain  blasts  of  air  to  pass  down  through  little  tubes,  and 
these  set  in  position  parts  of  the  machine  so  that  the  mould  is  ad- 


Lanston  Monotype  Type-Casting  Machine. 

justed  to  the  proper  width  for  casting  a  period,  while  the  matrix 
for  a  period  is  clamped  over  the  mould.  The  period  being  cast  and 
pushed  out  into  the  line,  the  tape  is  advanced  a  step,  and  presents  the 
holes  representing  the  letter  "  d,"  and  this  is  cast  in  like  manner; 
then  the  "  n"  and  the  "  e,"  next  a  space,  and  then  the  preceding  word. 
The  whole  operation  takes  place  very  much  faster  than  it  can  be 
described,  150  characters  a  minute  being  a  fair  speed  for  the  caster. 


368  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

The  Lanston  system  of  securing  justification,  by  varying  the 
widths  of  the  spaces  between  the  words,  is  unicjue  and  original  in 
the  extreme.  When  the  keyboard  operator  has  composed  as  many 
words  as  he  can  conveniently  get  wnthin  a  line's  measure,  he  con- 
sults a  dial  that  indicates  the  pressing  of  certain  figure-keys.  The 
calculating  mechanism  back  of  the  dial  has  measured  the  vacant 
space  in  the  line,  and  determined  the  necessary  width  or  thickness 
of  spaces  to  fill  it  properly.  It  shows  the  result  in  figures,  and  when 
the  operator  punches  the  appropriate  figure-keys,  he  punches  the 
tape  with  holes  for  the  information  of  the  casting-machine.  As  the 
tape  moves  backward  through  the  caster,  the  holes  made  by  pressing 
the  figure-keys  reach  the  mechanism  before  the  line  itself  is  cast, 
and  cause  the  machine  to  set  certain  parts  in  position  to  make  spaces 
of  just  the  required  thickness  to  bring  the  line  to  the  desired  length. 
In  this  way  all  lines  are  of  uniform  length.  The  perfecting  of  this 
remarkable  machine  has  cost  an  immense  amount  of  money,  and, 
although  first  exhibited  in  1892,  it  was  ten  years  before  it  was  per- 
fected sufficiently  to  secure  a  fair  sale. 

The  monoline  and  typograph  machines,  which  infringed  the 
United  States  patents  of  Mergenthaler,  have  had  some  sale  in  Can- 
ada and  abroad,  though  excluded  from  the  United  States.  Each 
casts  a  solid  line  slug,  and  each  has  certain  merits,  but  they  have 
not  been  developed  as  has  the  linotype,  and  have  never  reached  the 
same  state  of  perfection.  It  is  only  fair  to  add,  however,  that  the 
monoline  machine  is  far  the  simplest  of  the  "  slug"  class,  and  that 
it  is  likely  to  come  on  the  United  States  market  at  an  early  date. 

There  are  numerous  projected  machines  for  doing  composition, 
most  of  which  will  never  find  a  market  because  they  are  not  so  good 
as  those  in  use,  but  there  are  two  coming  machines  that  seem  worthy 
of  description  here.  These  are  the  Dow  typesetting-machine  and 
the  Wicks  typecasting-machine.  The  Dow  is  the  only  machine 
using  founders'  type  that  permits  of  the  use  of  all  the  standard  sizes 
of  body  type  in  the  one  machine;  in  other  words,  it  is  an  all-size 
machine.  It  is  also  the  onl)^  single-type  machine  that  gives  a  full 
product  with  the  labor  of  only  one  operator.  This  puts  it  in  the 
same  class  with  the  linotype,  as  the  cost  of  production  should  be 
about  the  same.  It  has  been  held  off  the  market  for  several  years, 
until  its  makers  w^ere  thoroughly  satisfied  with  its  smooth  operation, 
and  at  this  writing  it  is  stated  that  it  is  to  be  ready  for  sale  the 
present  year.  The  machine  has  an  advantage  over  many  other  single- 
type  machines  in  that  it  will  handle  type  wet  or  dry,  clean  or  dirty. 
Tlie  setting-machine  will  do  the  work  of  six  hand  compositors,  and 


THE    ART    PRESERVATIVE    OF   ALL    OTHER    ARTS  369 

the  distributing-machine,  which  is  automatic,  will  supply  three  set- 
ting-machines wdth  type. 

The  Wicks  typecasting-machine  is  remarkable  in  that  its  speed 
of  operation  far  exceeds  that  of  any  other  typecaster.  Its  normal 
running  speed  is  60,000  type  per  hour,  and  it  actually  makes  type 
of  a  hardness  never  before  attained  by  any  rapid  casting-machine. 
As  a  drawback,  the  machine  is  very  costly  to  construct  and  expensive 
to  keep  in  order,  and  has  not  as  yet  found  a  general  market,  though 
considerable  type  has  been  made  with  it,  both  in  London  and  New 
York. 

But  whatever  machines  may  or  may  not  take  the  market  of 
composition  in  the  future,  one  thing  is  certain,  that  the  days  of  hand 
typesetting  are  over,  and  that  every  printing-office  of  the  future 
will  be  considered  incomplete  without  a  composing-machine.  The 
change  is  owing  largely  to  the  inventive  genius  of  Ottmar  Mergen- 
thaler,  the  little  German  mechanic  with  a  large  brain,  who  spent  a 
score  of  years  in  poverty  in  Baltimore  developing  the  linotype. 
Eventually  he  found  men  of  money  and  business  ability  to  back  his 
ideas,  and  the  line  was  substituted  for  the  single  type  as  a  practical 
tmit  of  composition.  Others  divide  the  honors  with  Mergenthaler, 
just  as  Gutenberg  divides  the  honors  of  his  invention  with  Fust  and 
Schoffer,  and  as  Hoe  has  shared  the  honor  of  developing  the  print- 
ing-press with  other  builders ;  but  these  three — Gutenberg,  Hoe, 
and  Mergenthaler — are  surely  a  great  trio,  who  stand  head  and 
shoulders  above  all  others  as  inventive  giants  who  advanced  the 
art  of  printing. 

Color-work  has  made  great  progress  within  the  past  twenty 
years,  both  in  lithographic  and  letter-press  printing.  Lithography 
is  the  method  practised  by  the  makers  of  chromos  that  flooded  the 
United  States  about  1870  to  1875.  The  name  became  cheapened 
and  the  workmanship  of  the  pictures  improved,  so  the  ''  chromo" 
was  no  longer  offered  to  the  public.  In  its  place  came  beautiful 
birthday,  Easter,  and  Christmas  cards,  and  floral  pictures  appro- 
priate ( or  inappropriate )  to  any  and  all  sorts  of  occasions.  When 
this  fad  ran  out,  the  growth  of  advertising  had  caused  a  demand 
for  high-class  labels,  illustrated  signs,  and  commercial  matter  of 
various  sorts,  and  these  were  supplied  by  the  lithographer  in  ever- 
improved  quality.  The  means  employed  w^ere  the  gradual  im- 
proving of  minor  details  of  workmanship,  together  with  some 
mechanical  improvements.  Chief  among  the  latter  was  the  intro- 
duction of  the  aluminum  plate,  as  a  substitute  for  the  lithographic 
stone.    This  plate  is  a  sheet  of  aluminum  made  porous  and  attached 

24 


370  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

to  the  bed  or  cylinder  of  a  lithographic  press.  Being  very  much 
lighter  and  able  to  hold  its  design  much  longer,  it  has  taken  the 
place  of  the  stone  to  a  considerable  extent.  The  American  Litho- 
graphic Company,  of  New  York,  a  consolidation  of  a  number  of 
large  lithographers,  has  developed  and  is  developing  a  line  of  im- 
proved machinery  for  their  own  use,  which  secures  artistic  effects 
at  reduced  cost.  The  United  States  Printing  Company,  manufac- 
turers of  colored  labels  and  the  like,  with  establishments  in  several 
cities  in  the  country,  has  also  introduced  improved  methods  into 
its  work,  which  are  not  offered  for  sale  to  the  general  public. 

The  letter-press  printer  has  become  a  competitor  of  the  lithog- 
rapher in  the  color  field  by  the  perfecting  of  the  three-color  process, 
which  was  demonstrated  to  be  a  success  in  1895.  This  process  con- 
sists in  printing  from  half-tone  plates  in  the  three  primary  colors- 
red,  blue,  and  yellow — often  with  an  added  keyplate  in  photo- 
brown.  By  this  means  a  picture  in  all  the  colors  of  nature  is  pro- 
duced, and  the  remarkable  part  of  it  is  that  the  work  is  largely  me- 
chanical, though  reciuiring  great  skill  and  artistic  ability  to  produce. 
Suppose  that  the  subject  to  be  reproduced  is  an  oil  painting.  Three' 
photographs  are  taken  of  the  painting  with  the  negatives  exposed 
exactly  in  the  same  position,  so  as  to  give  pictures  of  the  same 
exact  size.  In  taking  the  photograph  for  the  plate  that  is  to  be 
printed  in  yellow  ink,  color-screens  and  other  devices  are  employed 
to  absorb  the  blue  and  the  red  light ;  in  taking  the  photograph  for 
the  red  plate,  the  yellow  and  blue  rays  are  absorbed,  and  the  photo- 
graph for  the  blue  in  the  same  way.  The  result  is  three  pictures, 
each  taken  in  yellow,  red,  and  blue  light  respectively.  A  half-tone 
plate  is  made  from  each  photograph,  and  three  electrotypes  made 
from  these  are  printed  one  after  the  other — that  is,  superimposed — 
in  their  proper  colors,  producing  an  almost  exact  duplicate  of  the 
original  painting.  The  keyplate  in  photo-brown  is  used  to  help  out 
any  weaknesses  in  the  reproduction,  and  in  the  best  work  there  are 
also  a  great  deal  of  retouching  of  the  plates  and  much  finishing  to 
secure  the  result.  The  printing  also  requires  special  care,  as  one 
color  has  to  be  registered  exactly  on  top  of  the  other  with  an  allow- 
able error  of  only  about  one  three-hundredths  of  an  inch.  Three- 
color  pictures  when  well  done  present  effects  as  good  as  lithography 
in  eight  or  ten  colors,  and  hence  the  cost  of  the  three-color  process 
is  less.  This  is  the  usual  method  employed  to  produce  colored  illus- 
trations for  the  magazines. 

Paper- folding  machines,  for  books,  magazines,  etc.,  have  made 
rapid  advance  during  recent  years.     By  the  introduction  of  a  drop- 


ONIXNI^J       ^0703-3 


rfyOO.-T  T»f  TMTT^  p<?      C'>T'^>'T"0^     ^TTT^-VJIMT      •Trrvj:^'^ 


Lv-.j  -n^a  3hx 


^/sxay  Tiy  -^o  SAiiVAaasaaj  xay  3hx,,  aaixixna  HaxjvH3  -jag 


3IHJL      do       NOIXISOdXg 


axvad  a3H  aHx 


3xvad  MoaaaA  anx 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 


371 


roll  and  other  devices  it  became  practical  to  feed  the  sheets  in  with 
the  broadside  or  longest  dimension  to  the  gauges,  which  permitted 
increased  speed.  Folders  are  now  built  in  all  conceivable  forms  for 
handling  sheets  of  book-forms  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  folding  one 
sheet  inside  of  another,  pasting,  attaching  covers,  etc. 

The  series  of  Smyth  machines  have  created  a  revolution  in  the 
work  of  binding  books.  The  book-case  machine,  as  it  is  technically 
called,  does  not  make  the  familiar  library  bookcases,  but  is  a  machine 
for  making  book-covers,  which  were  all  made  by  hand  until  a  few 
years  ago.  It  operates  as  follows  :  The  boards  are  put  into  a  maga- 
zine at  the  rear  of  the  machine ;  the  glue  is  heated  and  is  in  a  tank 
underneath  the  front  of  the  machine,  and  the  back-lining  is  at  the 


Smyth  New  Model  Book-Case  Machine. 

rear  of  the  machine  in  a  roll.  The  operator  stands  at  the  front  of  the 
machine  and  simply  feeds  the  cloth  to  grippers  similar  to  those  on 
a  printing-press,  and  the  machine  does  all  the  rest  automatically, 
producing  cases  more  uniform  and  superior  in  every  way  to  hand- 
made cases.  The  corners  are  turned  in,  and,  ■  owing  to  the  water- 
pressure  which  is  used  to  press  the  cases  instead  of  rolling  them, 
the  original  finish  of  the  cloth  is  preserved  and  every  part  of  the 
cloth  is  securely  glued  to  the  board.  When  it  is  desired  to  make 
cases  without  back-lining  or  gluing  the  backs,  devices  are  brought 
into  play  that  prevent  the  glue  from  going  on  to  the  backs  of  the 
cases,  leaving  the  backs  entirely  dry.  Bevelled  cases  can  be  made 
as  well  as  ordinary  cases.  Round  corners  are  made  only  on  a  special 
blank-book  machine. 


2>7^ 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  Smyth  book-sewing'  machines  are  manufactured  in  four 
sizes.  The  arm  that  carries  the  signature  into  the  machine  is  pro- 
vided with  punches  that  make  holes  for  the  needles  to  pass  through, 
therefore  it  is  unnecessary  for  the  work  to  be  sawed  out  or  in  any 
w'ay  prepared  for  sewing.  The  work  is  sewed  continuously,  one 
signature  to  another,  and  one  book  to  another.  The  work,  after 
being  sewed,  is  projected  on  to  a  table  at  the  rear  of  the  machine, 
and  the  books  are  separated  either  by  the  operator  or,  where  several 
machines  are  run,  by  an  assistant,  who  can  take  care  of  a  number 
of  machines.  The  stitches  are  so  made  that  the  act  of  separating 
the  books  locks  the  stitch,  so  that  each  book  is  complete  in  itself  and 


Smyth  Book-Sewing  Machine,  No.  4. 

does  not  rip.  The  sewing  is  equivalent  to  what  is  known  to  book- 
binders as  "  ail-along"  sewing.  Each  needle  uses  a  separate  thread, 
making  its  owai  "  kettle"  stitch;  therefore  each  stitch  is  complete  in 
itself,  and  should  all  the  stitches  in  a  book  be  cut  excepting  one, 
the  one  stitch  is  not  affected  by  the  cutting  of  others,  and  the  book 
would  not  come  apart  unless  all  the  stitches  were  cut. 

The  Smyth  casing-in  machine  will  handle  books  of  any  size 
up  to  9  by  12  inches  at  a  speed  of  from  15  to  18  books  per  min- 
ute. The  book  to  be  cased-in  is  placed  upon  one  of  the  arms  of 
the  machine  by  an  operator.  The  arm  revolves,  placing  the  book 
in  the  machine,  the  case  is  brought  forward  from  a  magazine  auto- 
matically and  positioned  on  the  book;  the  book  is  pasted,  a  heavy 
line  of  paste  being  placed  directly  where  the  hinge  of  the  cover 


THE  ART  PRESERVATIVE  OF  ALL  OTHER  ARTS 


373 


comes,  the  case  is  drawn  tightly  into  position,  the  hinge  is  made, 
and  the  work  is  completed.     The  pasting  is  done  with  absolute  uni- 


Smvlh  Book-Case  Machine — Small  size. 


formity;  the  minimum  amount  is  placed  upon  the  work,  and  there 
never  is  any  sticking  of  the  leaves  after  the  book  comes  from  the 
machine. 


Courtesy  E.  C.  Fuller  &  Company. 

Rotary  Board-Cutter. 


The  Smyth  gluing-machine  is  designed  to  evenly  apply  hot  or 
cold  adhesive  material  to  any  kind  of  fabric,  covering  either  all  one 
side  of  the  fabric  or  any  desired  portion  of  it.     It  is  equipped  with 


374 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 


an  automatic  take-off  which  lays  the  glued  or  pasted  fabric,  moist 

side  up,  on  a  conveyor  that  travels  away  from  the  feeding  operator. 

The  paper-feeding  machine  was  first  introduced   for   feeding 


Smyth  Gluing-Machine. 


single  sheets  to  ruling-machines,  and  later  to  folding-machines. 
About  1895  it  was  sufficiently  perfected  to  be  attached  to  cylinder 
printing-presses.  It  came  rapidly  into  favor,  and  now,  in  1904, 
there  are  three  paper-feeding  machines  on  the  market,  and  most 


Dexter  Feeding  and  Folding  Machines. 


periodicals  of  very  large  circulation  that  do  not  use  rotary  printing- 
presses  are  fed  to  single  cylinder-presses  supplied  with  sheets  by 
these  feeders,  which  thus  supplant  the  hand-feeder. 


THE    ART    PRESERVATIVE    OF    ALL    OTHER    ARTS  375 

A  sheet  of  paper  is  a  difficult  thing  to  handle  automatically  in 
a  machine,  because  there  is  so  much  uncertainty  about  it,  and  years 
of  expensive  experimenting  were  gone  through  by  all  of  the  con- 
cerns that  have  placed  paper-feeders  on  the  market.  In  the  most 
common  form  of  paper-feeders  the  sheets  are  stacked  in  a  pile  of 
several  thousand  sheets  on  a  platform.  The  top  sheet  of  the  pile  is 
kept  at  a  level  with  the  feed-board  of  the  press  by  a  mechanism  that 
hoists  it  little  by  little  as  its  height  is  reduced  by  the  feeding  off  of 
the  sheets.  A  .rubber  buckles  each  of  the  rear  corners  of  the  top 
sheet,  making  apertures,  into  which  slight  puffs  of  air  are  blown. 
This  separates  the  top  sheet  so  that  it  can  be  advanced  readily,  and 
it  is  carried  forward  by  tapes  to  the  guides  of  the  press.  If  two 
sheets  go  down  together,  a  delicate  calipering  device  notes  the  in- 
creased thickness,  and  sets  in  operation  mechanism  for  stopping 
the  press.  The  same  thing  occurs  when  a  torn  or  doubled  sheet 
is  presented  to  the  guides.  The  delicate  mechanism  detects  it,  and 
stops  all  the  machinery,  while  the  attendant  makes  matters  right, 
and  starts  up  the  work  again. 

The  rotary  board-cutter,  for  cutting  bookbinders'  board,  has 
largely  superseded  the  employment  of  the  paper-cutting  machine  for 
this  class  of  work. 

Thus,  briefly,  the  writer  has  endeavored  to  sum  up  the  prin- 
cipal recent  advances  in  the  art  of  printing.  They  are  important 
to  all  industries,  because  printing  is  essential  to  the  spread  of  learn- 
ing, and  the  better  and  cheaper  the  printing,  the  greater  will  be  its 
dissemination  and  the  resultant  public  gain  in  useful  information. 
The  printed  page  must  ever  be  the  storehouse  of  learning,  the  means 
by  which  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  one  generation  are  carried 
on  to  the  next,  so  that  the  volume  of  combined  knowledge  is  ever 
on  the  increase,  leading  us  to  wonder  when  man  will  pause  in  in- 
vention or  reach  the  limit  of  all  knowledge.  Like  the  electric  note 
■sent  out  on  a  Hertzian  wave  that  may  be  heard  and  interpreted  by 
any  one  within  thousands  of  miles  having  an  instrument  properly 
tuned,  so  the  pages  of  the  book  of  knowledge  are  open  to  all  those 
who  can  read  them.  The  common  school  that  teaches  the  boy  how 
to  read,  the  college  that  teaches  the  young  man  how  to  think,  have 
but  prepared  the  brain  for  the  stores  of  information  rolled  off  the 
million  of  printing-presses  that  operate  in  every  habitable  town  on 
the  globe. 


THE   MAKING   OF   NEWSPAPERS   AND    PERIODICALS 

The  early  newspapers  of  America  were  patterned  after  those 
printed  in  England,  being  of  small  size  and  containing  mostly 
essays,  letters,  and  sometimes  notes  of  events  happening  at  a  great 
distance.  The  idea  of  news,  as  we  now  understand  it,  seems  to 
have  been  unknowai  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Only  those  things 
that  happened  at  a  great  distance  w^ere  considered  worthy  of  record ; 
a  burning,  a  murder,  or  a  riot  near  at  hand  was  supposed  to  be 
known  to  everybody,  therefore  not  a  subject  worthy  of  being  put  in 
print.  When  an  editor  did  occasionally  write  of  anything  pertain- 
ing to  the  time  and  place  in  which  he  lived  it  was  usually  for  the 
purpose  of  lampooning  or  abusing  some  person  or  persons  obnox- 
ious to  him. 

A  few  advertisements  were  inserted  in  these  early  newspapers, 
these  also  being  of  a  character  very  unlike  the  commercial  announce- 
ments of  to-day.  Before  1840  most  of  the  newspapers  published 
came  out  at  weekly  intervals,  and  at  that  date  there  were  daily 
papers  in  only  the  largest  cities  of  the  world,  these  being  small  four- 
page  publications  of  limited  circulation. 

The  Civil  War  in  the  United  States  did  more  to  teach  the  news- 
paper editors  of  the  country  what  news  was  and  what  people  wanted 
to  read  than  they  had  learned  in  the  previous  half-century.  The 
stirring  events  of  those  times  and  the  demand  made  by  the  public  for 
prompt  information  regarding  the  movements  of  the  armies,  bat- 
tles and  skirmishes,  and  lists  of  dead  and  wounded,  created  a  jour- 
nalism based  on  present-day  news.  When  it  became  apparent  that 
the  war  was  drawing  to  a  close,  the  query  was  often  made,  "  What 
•will  the  newspapers  find  to  print  when  there  are  no  more  battles  to 
record?"  But  the  editors  had  no  trouble  in  filling  up  their  columns, 
having  learned  what  it  was  that  the  public  craved,  and  since  that 
time  in  every  live  newspaper  office  the  difficulty  has  been  to  find 
space  enough  for  all  the  news  matter. 

After  the  war  the  price  of  white  newspaper  was  considerably 
reduced,  with  the  result  that  the  daily  newspaper  developed  rapidly, 
and  by  1875  nearly  every  small  city  in  the  United  States  had  at 
least  one  daily  paper,  while  to-day  there  are  few  towns  of  5000 
population  that  do  not  support  a  daily  issue,  and  cities  of  25,000  are 

376 


THE    MAKING    OF    NEWSPAPERS    AND    PERIODICALS 


377 


usually  supplied  with  two  or  three  morning  and  two  or  three  evening 
papers. 

There  has  come  to  be  a  marked  line  of  difference  between  the 
daily  and  weekly  newspaper,  the  monthly  periodical,  the  trade  paper, 
and  the  magazine,  and  they  require  to  be  described  separately.  Let 
us  consider  the  daily  newspaper  first.  In  1800  there  were  about  a 
dozen  daily  papers  in  the  United  States,  these  having  four  pages 
each,  the  size  of  page  often  not  exceeding  six  by  nine  inches.  They 
were  printed  on  w^ooden  hand-presses  which  could  not  l3e  run 
faster  than  about  200  copies  an  hour  with  the  labor  of  a  man  and 
boy.  Under  such  conditions,  large  circulation  or  much  influence  were 
out  of  the  question.  When  the  iron  hand-presses  were  introduced, 
the  papers  were  made  a  little  larger,  but  were  otherwise  about  the 
same.  About  1840  single  cylinder-presses  began  to  come  into  use, 
which  would  print  from  500  to  1000  papers  per  hour,  one  side  at  a 
time. 

These  cylinder-machines  were  steadily  improved,  steam-power 
being  applied  to  them,  so  that  by  1850  it  was  common  to  operate 
them  at  a  speed  of  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  an  hour.  This  was 
a  faster  speed,  however,  than  the  presses  were  capable  of  maintain- 
ing, and  the  practice  of  daily  newspaper  managers  in  pushing  the 
machines  to  the  limit  of  their  speed  resulted  in  frequent  break- 
downs. About  this  time  the  firm  of  R.  Hoe  &  Co.  began  building 
the  double-cylinder  machine,  employing  two  men  to  feed  in  sheets 
simultaneously  and  doing  double  work.  These  machines  were  capa- 
ble of  turning  out  3000  or  more  papers  per  hour,  printed  on  one 
side  only.  This  was  followed  by  the  four-cylinder  machine,  which 
again  doubled  the  capacity  of  the  press,  and  next  came  the  eight- 
and  ten-cylinder  presses. 

Accfuaintance  with  more  recent  newspaper  machinery  makes 
the  old  eight-  and  ten-cylinder  presses  appear  as  very  clumsy  make- 
shifts, yet  they  were  the  machines  principally  relied  upon  by  the 
growing  newspapers  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  England,  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  Civil  War.  About  1876  the  modern  web-press, 
feeding  from  a  roll  of  paper  and  printing  from  stereotype  plates,  de- 
livering its  sheet  printed  on  both  sides  and  folded,  came  into  general 
use,  after  which  the  daily  newspapers  were  no  longer  hampered  by 
having  to  put  up  with  slow  or  uncertain  printing  machinery. 

The  general  introduction  of  the  linotype  composing-machine 
about  1890  put  the  work  of  type  composition  on  a  par  with  printing 
facilities,  making  mechanically  possible  the  enormous  daily  news- 
papers of  large  circulation. 


378 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 


The  work  of  news  gathering  is  a  product  of  evolution  much 
as  was  the  development  of  the  newspaper  press.  During  the  Civil 
^Yar  the  daily  newspapers  began  to  spend  money  on  telegraphic 
despatches  to  obtain  quick  news.  This  practice  grew,  and  in  time 
there  was  established  in  New  York  what  was  known  as  the  Asso- 
ciated Press,  being  a  combination  of  the  leading  daily  newspapers 
for  securing  telegraphic  reports  of  important  matters  all  over  the 
world.  This  service  grew  and  improved,  and  individual  newspapers 
of  special  enterprise  spent  more  and  more  money  for  news  for  their 


Hoe's  Latest  Large  Color-Printing  Newspaper  Press. 

exclusive  use,  and  various  minor  news  agencies  were  established  for 
the  dissemination  of  news. 

Every  large  daily  newspaper  divides  its  work  into  departments, 
one  editor  having  charge  of  the  telegraph  news,  one  of  the  city 
news,  and  often  one  of  the  sporting  department,  book  reviews,  and 
other  literary  features,  as  well  as  editors  who  write  editorials,  and 
what  are  known  as  copy  editors  or  copy  readers,  who  go  through 
the  copy  to  cut  it  down  and  see  that  it  contains  no  libellous  matter 
or  anything  contrary  to  the  policy  or  principles  of  the  publisher. 
The  reporters  are  the  men  who  make  most  of  the  copy,  and  they 


THE    MAKING    OF    NEWSPAPERS    AND    PERIODICALS       379 

work  mainly  on  assignments  under  the  direction  of  the  department 
editors.  The  work  of  one  man  may  be  confined  entirely  to  report- 
ing court  news,  another  to  fires  and  accidents,  another  to  interview- 
ing prominent  men,  and  so  on  through  the  various  fields  of  news 
gathering. 

Every  great  daily  newspaper  has  special  correspondents  in  the 
larger  cities,  whose  duty  it  is  to  write  exclusive  news  stories  of  the 
most  important  events  of  the  locality.  Very  many  reporters  in  the 
smaller  cities  earn  more  or  less  money  outside  of  their  regular  work 
on  the  local  newspapers  by  sending  occasional  telegrams  of  the 
more  important  happenings  to  the  larger  newspapers  or  news  agen- 
cies of  the  great  cities. 

The  printing  of  daily  newspapers  and  periodicals  of  enormous 
circulation  that  do  not  require  the  highest  grade  of  printing,  is  done 
on.  Hoe,  Scott,  and  Goss  web-presses,  that  print  papers  as  large  as 
thirty-two  pages  on  a  single  machine,  and  at  speeds  as  great  as 
100,000  an  hour  for  eight-page  papers.  The  most  important  ad- 
vance in  these  machines  during  the  past  decade  has  been  the  intro- 
duction of  color-printing  devices.  It  is  true  that  very  much  of  the 
color  work  done  on  these  rapid  machines  for  the  Sunday  papers 
has  been  poor,  and  much  of  it  unqualifiedly  bad  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view.  Still  it  improves,  and  one  occasionally  sees  really 
attractive  color  pictures  in  an  Easter  or  Christmas  supplement.  The 
largest  printing-machine  ever  constructed  is  the  color  press  recently 
delivered  by  R.  Hoe  &  Co.  to  the  New  York  American,  and  is  one 
of  four  such  presses  especially  designed  for  the  Sunday  magazine 
supplement  of  that  paper.  Some  idea  of  the  size  and  capacity  of 
these  presses  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  interesting  sta- 
tistics and  comparisons  compiled  and  published  by  that  paper : 

"  It  would  take  eight  locomotives,  each  travelling  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles 
an  hour,  to  unroll  paper  equal  to  the  combined  speed  at  w^hich  papers  are  printed 
by  the  four  presses.  At  their  full  capacity  the  four  presses  could  print  enough 
papers  in  fourteen  hours  and  fifty-three  minutes  to  encircle  the  earth.  There  are 
50,000  separate  pieces  in  each  machine.  After  each  press  had  been  completed  at 
the  factory  it  took  one  month  to  take  it  apart  again  for  shipment  to  the  press- 
room. To  box  the  four  presses  for  shipment  would  require  60,000  feet  of  lumber 
and  2000  pounds  of  nails.  In  the  aggregate  they  represent  160  three-horse  truck 
loads,  or  sufficient  material  to  fill  twenty-eight  freight  cars.  When  set  up  on 
the  solid  brick,  stone  and  concrete  foundations  each  press  will  be  thirty-five  feet 
long,  seventeen  feet  high  and  twelve  feet  wide.  Each  press  is  equivalent  in  size 
to  four  standard  railroad  locomotives.  The  four  presses  have  sixty-four  ink 
fountains." 

Stereotyping  is  the  process  of  making  a  single-plate  repro- 
duction of  a  form  for  printing  in  a  soft  metal  alloy  of  lead  with  a 


38o 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 


little  tin,  etc.  Daily  newspapers,  printed  on  rotary  presses,  take 
an  impression  of  each  page  of  type  in  a  papier-mache  sheet,  and 
insert  this  in  a  curved  casting  box,  and  so  cast  a  curved  stereotype, 
that  is  clamped  on  the  cylinder  of  the  press,  for  rotary  printing. 
Such  curved  stereotypes  were  made  entirely  by  hand-operated  ma- 
chines until  1890,  when  the  autoplate  machine  was  installed  in 
the  office  of  the  New  York  Herald.  This  is  an  entirely  automatic 
machine  for  making  stereotypes  at  the  rate  of  four  a  minute  from 


The  Autoplate  or  Automatic  Stereotyping  Machine. 

the  papier-mache  matrices  fed  in  by  an  attendant.  It  is  the  inven- 
tion of  H.  A.  Wise  Wood,  and  is  the  first  radical  improvement  in 
stereotyping  made  since  the  introduction  of  the  papier-mache 
process.  The  machine  is  now  used  by  the  larger  newspapers 
throughout  the  world,  because  it  saves  them  about  twelve  minutes 
of  time  between  the  giving  out  of  the  last  copy  for  the  paper  and 
its  appearance  for  sale  on  the  streets.  For  these  twelve  minutes 
newspapers  have  been  willing  to  pay  $25,000  each  for  the  machines; 
such  is  the  enterprise  of  twentieth  century  newspaper  publishers. 
As  the  linotype  revolutionized  the  work  of  typesetting  and  the 


THE    MAKING    OF    NEWSPAPERS    AND    PERIODICALS       381 

rotary  web-press  the  methods  of  newspaper  printing,  the  autoplate 
has  revohitionized  the  stereotype-room ;  and  thus  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  the  daily  press  the  editorial  department  is  linked 
to  the  street  by  a  chain  of  automatic  machines  that  are  all  of  astound- 
ing utilit}'  and  make  possible  the  mechanical  work  of  turning  out  a 
million  or  more  newspapers  in  one  establishment  within  a  few  hours. 
The  autoplate  sets  a  bridge  between  the  composing-rooms  and  the 
press-rooms,  and  cuts  out  the  last  link  of  time-destroying  hand- 
w^ork  from  newspaper  production. 

The  autoplate  consists  of  a  casting  mechanism  and  a  series 
of  finishing  mechanisms  which  automatically  co-operate  in  one  ma- 
chine to  do  the  entire  work  that  was  formerly  done  on  four  or  five 
hand  machines  at  a  single  operation.  The  machine  will  either  make 
a  series  of  plates  from  a  single  paper  matrix  or  will  make  a  different 
plate  every  time  the  operator  pulls  out  one  matrix  and  inserts  an- 
other, Vidiich  is  done  without  delay. 

When  the  paper  matrix  is  fed  in  place,  the  operator  pulls  a 
lever,  and  a  curved  chamber,  the  exact  size  and  shape  of  the  desired 
plate,  closes  down  on  the  matrix.  Hot  metal  is  forced  in  for  a  cast, 
the  casting-chamber  being  under  an  elastic  pressure,  which,  as  the 
plate  shrinks  in  cooling,  follows  up  the  shrinkage  with  fresh  metal, 
and  thus  makes  unusually  sharp  and  clear  printing  plates.  Within 
a  few  seconds  the  cast  is  cool  enough  to  be  pushed  out  to  the  next 
stage  in  the  machine,  where  it  is  shaved  on  the  inner  side,  and  then 
passes  on  to  have  the  ends  bevelled  and  the  four  edges  dressed  close 
to  the  type  matter.  The  finished  plate  ready  for  the  press  is  pushed 
out  at  the  rear  of  the  machine,  not  having  been  touched  by  human 
hand  until  it  is  ready  to  take  away. 

Within  the  last  dozen  years  illustrations  have  become  a  promi- 
nent feature  of  daily  journalism,  and  the  artist  and  "  camera  fiend" 
are  as  important  members  of  a  newspaper  stafif  as  the  reporters  and 
editors.  When  it  is  necessary  to  give  pictures  of  a  large  fire  occur- 
ring in  the  night-time,  and  the  printing  plates  are  required  to  be 
on  the  presses  by  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  it  will  be  understood 
what  a  hustling  job  has  the  artist,  who  must  rush  to  the  scene  and 
make  a  few  hurried  sketches,  then  return  to  the  office  and  execute 
a  large  pen-and-ink  drawing  on  the  double-quick,  allowing  time  for 
the  mechanical  work  of  making  the  printing  plate  after  the  drawing 
is  done.  The  illustrations  produced  most  quickly  are  those  done 
by  the  chalk  process,  in  which  the  picture  is  engraved  or  scratched 
on  a  metal  plate  having  a  surface  of  chalk  that  is  removed  by  the 
graving  tools.    As  soon  as  the  picture  is  thus  engraved  in  the  chalk, 


382  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

a  stereotype  for  printing  can  be  made  promptly  without  any  inter- 
vening process.  Of  course,  half-tone  engravings  and  zinc  etchings 
require  more  time,  although  they  are  produced  for  newspapers  with 
marvellous  celerity. 

The  advertising  of  a  great  daily  newspaper  requires  as  much 
labor  and  attention  as  the  gathering  and  printing  of  news  and  illus- 
trations. There  must  be  a  corps  of  efficient  men  to  wait  upon  the 
larger  advertisers  and  secure  and  hold  their  business,  seeing  to  it 
that  their  announcements  are  printed  in  a  satisfactory  way.  There 
must  be  men  to  give  attention  to  the  building-up  of  "  want"  adver- 
tising, which  latter  is  esteemed  of  great  value,  not  so  much  for  the 
price  it  brings,  as  for  the  fact  that  it  also  attracts  readers  to  the 
newspaper. 

A  daily  newspaper  of  importance  requires  a  circulation  man- 
ager, whose  business  it  is  to  see  that  the  paper  is  pushed  into  new 
fields  wherever  possible  and  made  to  hold  its  own  in  the  sharp  com- 
petition that  exists  in  the  old  field.  There  are  many  minor  depart- 
ments of  work  on  the  daily,  as  may  be  better  understood  when  it 
is  remembered  that  there  are  several  newspapers  in  the  United  States 
that  have  more  than  a  thousand  men  on  their  office  pay-rolls. 

The  daily  papers  in  small  cities  whose  business  does  not  afford 
a  large  telegraphic  service  are  in  the  habit  of  using  wdiat  is  known 
as  "  plate"  matter,  this  being  news  or  miscellaneous  matter  such  as 
any  daily  newspaper  might  print,  prepared  in  advance  by  com- 
panies in  the  larger  cities,  put  into  type,  and  made  in  the  form  of 
stereotype  printing  plates  of  the  size  of  one  column  each.  This 
plate  matter  can  be  purchased  by  small  daily  papers  at  the  aston- 
ishingly low  price  of  twenty  to  fifty  cents  per  column,  and  the  quality 
of  the  reading  thus  furnished  is  as  good  as  that  of  metropolitan 
new^spapers,  the  only  drawback  being  that  the  news  service  is  a  few 
hours  later.  The  use  of  these  plates  enables  the  daily  papers  in 
small  cities  to  put  on  an  appearance  very  similar  to  the  great  dailies 
of  the  great  cities.  They  prepare  and  set  up  their  columns  of  local 
news  and  advertisements,  printing  them  with  this  plate  matter  on 
presses  adapted  to  the  size  of  their  circulations,  thus  placing  the 
entire  news  before  their  readers  every  day. 

The  daily  newspapers  commonly  sell  at  either  one  or  two  cents, 
though  some  are  furnished  at  the  price  of  ten  cents  a  week.  The 
one-cent  dailies  secure  the  larger  circulations,  but,  as  a  rule,  lose  a 
little  money  on  the  sales  of  their  papers,  which  they  have  to  make 
up  by  securing  a  higher  price  for  the  advertising.  If  it  were  not 
for  the  advertisements,  which  constitute  the  largest  portion  of  re- 


THE    MAKING    OF    NEWSPAPERS    AND    PERIODICALS       383 

ceipts  of  most  newspapers,  the  public  would  be  unable  to  buy  them 
as  cheaply  as  it  does. 

The  Sunday  newspaper  is  usually  a  special  issue  of  a  daily 
containing  a  larger  number  of  pages,  and  selling  at  a  higher  price. 
When  Sunday  issues  first  became  common  there  was  considerable 
objection  to  them  by  the  clergy  and  religious  persons  who  regarded 
them  as  a  desecration  of  the  Day  of  Rest.     Their  growth  and  uni- 


Editor  Dictating  to  the  Phonograph. 


versal  sale  has  come  in  spite  of  this  opposition,  which  is  now  largely 
silenced,  the  opinion  being  prevalent  that  Sunday  newspapers  are 
quite  as  good  as  the  people  who  read  them,  and  that  they  will  im- 
prove whenever  the  public  demand  a  higher  grade  of  Sabbath  litera- 
ture. 

The  weekly  newspaper  in  cities  has  been  largely  supplanted  or 
driven  out  of  business  by  the  daily,  and,  as  a  rule,  continues  to  exist 


3S4 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


only  in  country  towns  and  small  cities  where  the  population  is  not 
sufficient  to  support  a  really  good  daily.  These  country  new'spapers 
draw  largely  upon  the  manufacturers  of  "  plate"  matter,  or  else 
thcA'  use  what  is  knowm  as  the  "  patent  side" — that  is,  one  side  of 
a  newspaper  printed  at  very  low  cost  in  some  large  city  by  a  com- 
pany that  makes  a  business  of  furnishing  such  a  service.  The  editor 
of  a  country  weekly,  who  is  usually  also  the  proprietor,  and  often 
his  own  reporter  and  foreman,  gathers  the  local  news  of  the  town, 
with  what  advertisements  he  can  obtain  from  the  merchants,  eking 
out  a  living  by  doing  job  printing.  One  or  tw'O  printers  and  sev- 
eral boys,  who  are  supposed  to  be  learning  the  printing  business, 
constitute  the  average  force  of  the  country  newspaper  office. 

What  is  knowai  as  the  trade  paper  is  largely  an  outgrowth  of 
the  last  generation.  It  is  a  publication  issued  usually  either  weekly 
or  monthly,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  a  particular  trade  or  indus- 
try, and  finds  its  support  mainly  from  those  advertisers  wdio  have 
machinery  to  sell  to  the  men  engaged  in  that  industry.  Some  of 
these  trade  journals  have  become  very  profitable  properties,  and  are 
relied  upon  as  the  leading  centres  of  information  and  exchange  of 
thought  in  the  particular  trade  to  which  they  cater.  At  this  writing 
there  is  not  in  the  United  States  a  single  industry  of  any  importance 
that  is  not  represented  by  one  or  more  trade  journals;  while  in 
such  large  industries,  as  electrical  machinery,  the  iron  trade,  print- 
ing, railways,  and  the  like,  there  are  often  a  dozen  or  more  com- 
petitors seeking  to  serve  the  people  interested  in  that  particular 
business. 

The  name  of  class  journal  is  commonly  applied  to  those  publi- 
cations which  cater  to  persons  interested  in  a  special  subject,  as 
religion,  agriculture,  horticulture,  hypnotism,  or  the  like.  These 
are  neither  as  numerous  nor  as  successful  as  the  trade  journals, 
although  there  are  a  number  of  special  instances  of  marked  success. 

Magazines  and  weekly  literary  publications  of  high  character 
are  in  a  class  by  themselves,  and  depend  largely  upon  their  artistic 
as  well  as  literary  excellence  for  success.  Space  forbids  enlarging 
upon  the  work  of  these  publications,  as  they  are  more  or  less  famil- 
iarly known  to  the  public. 

The  newspapers  of  Europe  are,  as  a  rule,  behind  those  of 
America  in  enterprise,  and  the  average  British  newspaper  of  a  given 
date  is  usually  the  equivalent  of  the  American  newspaper  of  five 
to  ten  years  earlier.  There  are  exceptions,  however,  and  a  few 
newspapers  in  London  and  Paris  are  the  equals  of  the  New  York 
dailies  in  business  enterprise,  as  well  as  in  success  in  attaining  large 


THE    MAKING    OF    NEWSPAPERS    AND    PERIODICALS       385 

circulation  and  influence.  They  have  not  as  yet  secured  the  adver- 
tising patronage  that  comes  to  the  American  newspaper,  as  the 
average  British  and  French  merchant  is  not  educated  to  the  point 
of  spending  as  much  money  in  advertising  as  his  American  con- 
temporary. 

The  newspapers  of  America  consume  nearly  one  billion  pounds 
of  white  paper  annually,  according  to  the  United  States  census,  but 
the  amount  is  believed  to  be  in  excess  of  this  figure.     There  is  con- 


Composing  on  the  Linotype  from  Phonograph  Dictation. 

siderable  discrepancy  between  the  census  returns  as  to  newspapers 
and  the  reports  of  newspaper  directory  publishers.  The  census 
returns  for  1900  report  only  18,226  newspapers  in  the  country, 
whereas  the  directories  gave  about  20,000  at  that  date,  and  nearly 
21,000  at  the  present  writing.  Probably  the  truth  is  between  the 
two  figures,  as  the  plan  of  the  Census  Bureau  is  to  omit  those  news- 
papers that  do  not  report,  whereas  the  directories  retain  such  on, 
their  lists  unless  they  are  known  to  be  defunct.  Adding  magazines, 
trade  papers,  and  other  periodicals  to  the  list  of  newspapers  would 


386  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

probably  give  a  total  of  about  25,000  now  issued  regularly  in  the 
United  States. 

Taking  the  census  figures,  which  are  probably,  on  an  average, 
ten  to  twenty  ]jer  cent,  below  the  actual  facts,  the  18,000  and  odd 
newspapers  of  the  United  States  are  issued  from  a  little  more  than 
15,000  establishments,  and  give  occupation  to  122,000  wage-earners. 
The  capital  invested  is  $192,000,000,  and  the  newspaper  products 
are  valued  at  $176,000,000,  of  which  a  little  more  than  half  is  ad- 
vertising receipts.  The  aggregate  number  of  copies  of  all  publi- 
cations issued  in  the  United  States  during  the  census  year  is  given 
as  a  little  over  8,000,000,000,  this  figure  being  nearh'  double  what 
it  was  ten  years  previous. 

An  examination  of  statistics  shows  that  during  the  last  twenty 
years  there  has  been  very  little  change  in  the  relative  space  de- 
voted by  the  newspapers  to  news,  politics,  and  general  reading,  but 
they  do  show  that  those  newspapers  which  confine  themselves 
mainly  to  the  business  of  publishing  news,  increased  in  business  at 
the  expense  of  those  devoted  to  general  literature,  art,  music,  fash- 
ion, fraternal  societies,  etc. 

There  are  nearly  as  many  newspapers  and  periodicals  printed 
in  the  United  States  as  in  all  the  rest  of  the  world  combined.  The 
circulation  of  daily  newspapers  in  this  country  shows  that  there  is  a 
little  more  than  one  copy  of  a  daily  paper  printed  for  each  family, 
while  the  copies  of  weekly  and  monthly  publications  are  sufficient 
to  supply  one  of  each  issue  to  every  two  inhabitants.  The  average 
circulation  of  daily  newspapers  in  the  census  year  was  almost  7000 
copies,  that  of  weeklies  being  a  little  over  3000,  and  of  monthlies 
about  22,000  per  issue. 

New  York  City  takes  the  lead  in  newspapers  and  periodicals  of 
all  classes,  having  no  less  than  fifty-eigh-t  daily  newspapers,  with  a 
combined  circulation  per  issue  of  nearly  3,000,000;  Chicago  comes 
next  with  thirty-seven  daily  newspapers,  and  Philadelphia  third  with 
twenty-one.  The  average  number  of  daily  papers  in  the  twenty- 
seven  leading"  cities  of  the  country  is  nine  per  city,  of  which  a  little 
more  than  half  are  evening  papers.  In  the  smaller  cities  the  evening* 
papers  outnumber  the  morning  papers  in  the  ratio  of  three  to  one. 
During  recent  years  the  evening  newspapers  have  gained  in  business 
in  the  larger  cities,  owing  apparently  to  the  fact  that  they  are  on 
sale  a  greater  number  of  hours,  some  of  them  appearing  as  early 
as  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  most  of  them  by  noon,  and 
issuing  regular  editions  up  to  six  o'clock  at  night,  holding  a  con- 
siderable sale  up  to  eight  o'clock  or  later  in  the  evening. 

The  accompanying  map  taken  from  the  special  bulletin  of  the 


THE    MAKING    OF    NEWSPAPERS    AND    PERIODICALS       387 

United  States  Census  Bureau  issued  on  the  subject  of  Printing  and 
Publishing,  shows  graphically  the  sections  of  country  where  news- 
paper circulations  are  the  largest.  '  It  will  be  noted  that  the  circu- 
lations follow  very  closely  the  populations.  Of  18,000  and  odd 
newspapers  and  periodicals  reported  by  the  Census  Bureau,  2226 
are  daily  papers,  12,979  ^^'^  weeklies,  and  181 7  are  monthlies;  952 
are  devoted  to  religion,  307  to  agriculture  and  kindred  subjects, 
190  to  commerce,  finance,  insurance,  and  railroads,  520  are  classed 
as  trade  journals,  239  as  devoted  to  general  literature,  and  200  to 
fraternal  organizations. 


I 1  Less  than  100,000.  Newspapers  and  Periodicals. 

I^ssj  100,000  to  500,000.  Aggregate  Issue  of  all  Publications,  A.  D.  1900. 

riiiiMi  5oo.«»  to  2,000,000. 

ninijnniii  2,000,000  to  10,000,000. 

^jjjyjjll  10,000,000  and  over. 

The  New  York  World's  estimate  of  the  number  of  newspapers 
(not  including  magazines  or  periodicals)  published  on  the  globe 
at  the  beginning  of  1904  is  as  follows  : 

United  States  and  Canada,  21,451;  Germany,  7500;  Great 
Britain,  9500;  France,  4500;  Japan,  2000;  Italy,  1500;  Austria- 
Hungary,  1200;  Asia,  exclusive  of  Japan,  1000;  Spain,  850;  Rus- 
sia, 800;  Australia,  800;  Greece,  600;  Switzerland,  450;  Holland, 
300;  Belgium,  300;  all  others,  1000.  Of  these  more  than  half  are 
printed  in  the  English  language.  , 

Taken  altogether,  the  newspapers  of  America  lead  the  world,. 
and  deserve  a  large  share  of  the  credit  of  placing  the  United  States 
in  the  front  rank  of  great  nations. 


THE    AGE    OF    PAPER 


The  age  of  electricity  and  the  age  of  steel  are  frequently  re- 
ferred to  in  the  daily  newspapers  and  magazines,  but  it  certainly 
appears  as  if  the  paper  industry  was  Cjuite  as  much  entitled  to  that 
sort  of  distinction.  Without  paper  we  should  be  without  printing, 
and  without  printing  there  would  have  been  no  development  of 
either  electrical  machinery  or  steel  construction  or  of  the  knowledge 
that  has  enabled  men  to  develop  these  great  industries.  All  paper 
was  hand-made  until  about  1800,  when  the  Fourdrinier  brothers 


Making  Paper  by  Hand. 

invented  the  paper-making  machine,  this  being  one  of  the  few  in- 
stances where  a  machine  has  reached  its  full  development  from  the 
hands  of  the  first  inventors  and  builders.  While  the  paper-making 
machines  of  to-day  are  very  much  larger  and  more  complete  than 
the  first  ones  built  by  the  Fourdriniers,  yet  they  are  the  same  in 
essential  principles,  having  the  same  leading  characteristics. 

But  for  the  paper-making  machine  turning  out  paper  in  the 
roll,  fast  rotary  printing-presses  would  be  impractical  and  the  prog- 
ress of  printing  would  have  been  much  delayed.  There  is  no  more 
common  article  of  manufacture  than  paper,  and  there  is  scarcely  a 
trade  or  business  that  is  not  very  much  dependent  upon  its  use. 
Without  cheap  paper  half  of  the  businesses  of  the  country  would 

388 


THE    AGE    OF    PAPER 


389 


be  paralyzed.  It  is  because  paper  is  so  cheaply  produced  and  so 
easily  obtained  that  we  seldom  think  of  its  value  in  all  lines  of  in- 
dustry. 

In  1794  the  first  paper-mill  of  the  United  States  was  started  in 
Troy,  New  York,  having  a  capacity  of  five  to  ten  reams  a  day  of  rag- 
pulp.  Several  other  paper-mills  were  started  during  the  following- 
years,  manufacturing  rag  pulp  by  hand  until  18 17,  when  the  first 
steam-mill  was  started  at  Pittsburg.  By  1842  there  were  some 
50,000  persons  employed  in  the  paper-mill  industry  in  the  country, 
producing  paper  annually  of  the  value  of  $15,000,000. 


Logs  in  the  Forest. 

Pulp-Straw  made  its  appearance  in  1857,-  being  manufactured 
at  Fort  Edward,  New  York.  By  the  time  the  Civil  War  broke  out 
newspapers  were  using  this  straw-paper  very  largely,  the  price  of  rye 
straw  increasing  from  $6  to  $20  a  ton.  Poor  and  brittle  as  this 
paper  was,  and  hard  on  printers'  type,  yet  the  newspapers  were  glad 
to  get  it  at  from  twelve  to  twenty-six  cents  a  pound  during  the  war. 
Newspaper  circulations  were  largely  stimulated  by  the  political  ex- 
citement culminating  in  1861,  and  as  a  result  the  product  of  our 
paper-mills  began  to  exceed  that  of  Great  Britain  and  France.  A 
boom  in  paper-making  came  with  the  introduction  of  wood-paper 


390 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


about  1870-75.  At  first  wood-paper  was  regarded  as  a  cheap  article 
comparable  with  straw-paper;  but,  as  its  merits  were  better  under- 
stood and  as  the  makers  learned  improved  ways  of  strengthening 
and  finishing,  its  popularity  began  to  grow,  and  to-day  ninety-nine 
one-hundredths  of  the  world's  paper  made  is  of  wood,  fine  papers 
designed  for  the  higher  grade  of  artistic  printing  being  manufac- 
tured from  wood-pulp  and  depending  upon  sizing  and  calendering 
for  their  beautv. 


A  Log;  Rait  contaitiiiii. 


Cellulose  is  the  chemist's  term  for  the  substance  obtained  by 
pulping  wood,  as  in  the  manufacture  of  paper.  Wood-pulp  is  the 
common  term  used  in  the  paper  trade,  meaning  what  its  form  im- 
plies— wood  that  has  been  reduced  to  a  pulp.  Most  of  the  wood 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  American  papers  grows  in  the  forests 
of  Canada  and  the  northern  borders  of  the  United  States. 

The  hardy  lumbermen  chop  down  the  trees  and  lop  of¥  the 
branches,  leaving  the  trunks  to  lie  until  the  logging  season  sets  in. 
The  transportation  of  the  logs  to  market  involves  great  ingenuity 


THE    AGE    OF    Px\PER 


391 


because  of  their  size  and  weight,  and  the  fact  that  they  are  obtained 
in  sections  where  there  are  no  good  roads  or  ordinary  methods  of 
transportation. 

Advantage  is  taken  of  the  natural  slopes  towards  the  streams 
to  form  chutes  down  which  the  logs  readily  descend  during  wet 
or  icy  weather  by  force  of  gravity.  Very  rude  railways  are  also 
employed  at  times  or  any  special  device  that  the  locality  and  inge- 
nuity of  the  man  in  charge  can  suggest.  When  the  logs  reach  the 
streams  during  the  cold  weather,  they  must  lie  there  until  the  ice 
breaks  up,  when  the  lumbermen  prepare  to  go  on  the  ''  drive." 
Logs  are  constantly  forming  jams  in  the  streams,  and  when  one  of 


Courtesy   (eiTrey  Manufacturing  Company. 

Hauling  Chips  to  the  Paper-Mill. 

these  occurs  it  becomes  the  difficult  task  of  the  lumbermen  to  walk 
over  the  floating  logs  and  find  the  log  that  serves  as  a  key  to  the 
jam,  cutting  it  away  so  as  to  break  the  jam.  The  instant  the  jam 
begins  to  yield  is  the  dangerous  one  for  the  luinberman,  as  he  must 
run  over  the  tops  of  the  logs  for  shore  in  a  race  for  his  life.  If  he 
falls  between  the  logs  at  such  a  time,  when  the  pent-up  force  of  the 
stream  is  bringing  down  thousands  of  heavy  logs  past  the  point 
of  stoppage,  he  is  sure  to  be  crushed  like  an  egg-shell,  and  usually 
his  companions  never  even  discover  his  remains. 

The  dangers  of  logging  seem  to  give  it  an  added  charm  in  the 
eyes  of  the  lumbermen,  who  acquire  astonishing  skill  in  balancing, 
and  appear  as  much  at  home  on  a  stream  full  of  logs  as  a  dancing- 
master  is  on  a  ball-room  floor.     These  hardy  men  keep  their  logs 


39^ 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


in  motion  until  they  reach  a  large  sheet  of  water,  where  they  can  be 
tied  in  rafts  and  floated  to  the  mills.  If  the  logs  have  been  cut  in 
a  maritime  province  of  Canada,  they  have  yet  a  sea-voyage  before 
reaching  the  paper-mill,  or,  if  in  the  lake  region,  a  similar  trip 
across  the  waters  of  one  of  the  great  lakes  is  required  to  bring  them 
to  their  destination.  For  such  voyages  the  logs  are  made  up  in 
great  rafts  for  towing.  The  sea  or  lake  voyage  is  uneventful 
enough  in  fine  weather,  but  a  storm  is  liable  to  break  up  the  raft 
and  scatter  the  logs  for  miles,  with  no  little  danger  to  the  sailing 
craft  in  the  vicinity,  as  a  collision  with  a  big"  log  is  damag'ing  to  the 
side  of  any  vessel. 

Paper  mills  are  invariably  located  in  the  vicinity  of  water,  as 
near  some  large  water-fall  as  practicable.  The  water-fall  is  neces- 
sary for  procuring  cheap  motive  power,  as  well  as  a  plentiful  supply 
of  water,  which  is  essential  to  the  manufacture  of  paper.  When  the 
log  reaches  the  mill  it  is  first  dragged  out  of  the  water  by  iron  dogs 
and  rolled  and  slid  to  a  great  circular  saw  that  cuts  it  into  lengths. 
At  the  same  time,  a  "  barker,"  made  of  rapidly  rotating  blades,  re- 
moves the  bark  from  the  log  ^^•ith  the  most  tremendous  noise.  The 
buzz-saw^  is  supposed  to  emit  one  of  the  worst  noises  that  ever 
afflicted  human  ears,  but  the  barker  can  outscreech  three  large  buzz- 
saws,  and  when  several  saws  and  barkers  are  operating  together  the 
noise  is  so  deafening  as  to  be  beyond  the  writer's  powers  of  de- 
scription. 

The  short  lengths  of  logs  when  bared  of  bark  are  ready  for 
the  grinders.  In  these  the  wood  is  pressed  hard  against  a  grind- 
stone under  a  constant  flow  of  water. 

The  Dilts  New  Century  Pulp-Grinder,  here  illustrated,  made  by 
the  Dilts  Machine  Works,  of  Fulton,  New  York,  has  four  pockets 
or  receptacles  for  the  wood,  provided  with  doors  as  shown.  For 
each  pocket  there  is  a  hydraulic  C3dinder  with  piston,  piston-rod, 
and  follow^er. 

The  wood,  in  blocks  twenty-eight  inches  long  and  twelve  inches 
or  less  in  diameter,  is  placed  in  the  pockets  in  front  of  the  followers. 
The  valves  on  the  cylinders  are  then  thrown  open  and  the  wood  is 
forced  by  hydraulic  pressure  against  the  revolving  stone,  wdiich 
grinds  it  to  pulp.  The  pulp  is  then  carried  by  flotation  to  the  wet 
machines,  which  form  it  into  a  sheet. 

The  New  Century  grinder  differs  from  other  makes  in  several 
respects.  The  pockets,  instead  of  being  over  the  top  of  the  stone, 
are  arranged  two  on  each  side  of  the  stone ;  the  pressure  from 
grinding  is  thus  balanced  between  the  two  sides  of  the  stone,  and 


THE    AGE    OF    PAPER 


393 


there  is  no  undue  strain  on  the  bearings  as  is  the  case  when  the 
pockets  are  placed  above. 

The  construction  is  very  simple.  Heavy  side  frames  support 
the  machine  and  have  brackets  for  carrying  the  stone  shaft.  These 
side  frames  have  grooves  planed  on  the  inside  surfaces,  and  in  these 
grooves  are  supported  the  grinding  plates  which  form  the  horizontal 
walls  of  the  pockets.  These  grinding  plates  are  adjustable  close  to 
the  stone,  so  that  no  slivers  can  be  made.  The  grinder  stone,  which 
is  fifty-four  inches  in  diameter,  is  carried  on  a  hammered  steel  shaft 
supported  in  water-cooled  bearings.  On  each  side  of  the  stone  are 
very  heavy  iron  collars,  which  are  threaded  on  the  shaft  in  such 


The  Dilts  New  Century  Pulp-Grinder. 


manner  that  they  hold  the  stone  securely,  and  at  the  same  time  can 
be  easily  removed. 

The  ground  pulp  so  made  is  called  "  filler,"  which  constitutes 
about  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  material  used  in  paper-making. 
The  grinding  of  the  wood  tends  to  destroy  the  fibre,  and  for  that 
reason  in  manufacturing  the  better  grades  of  wood-paper  a  chemical 
process  is  employed,  commonly  known  as  the  sulphite  process.  For 
this  the  logs  are  reduced  to  chips  by  a  machine  having  rotating 
knives,  and  called  the  chipper.  This  reduces  the  log  at  a  rapid  rate, 
and  the  stream  of  chips  is  transported  by  an  endless  carrier  to  the 
sulphite-mill  to  be  digested.    The  digester  is  an  enormous  steel  tank 


^g^  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

or  boiler,  lined  with  tile  or  the  like  to  prevent  the  acid  from  eating 
into  the  steel  sides.  Some  of  these  digesters  are  large  enough  to 
hold  forty  cords  of  chips  at  a  single  loading.  Into  the  top  the  chips 
are  dumped,  after  which  the  top  is  closed  and  the  steam  turned  on, 
and  the  whole  cooked  at  a  temperature  of  perhaps  400°  F.  for  about 
eight  or  ten  hours.  The  digested  material  is  taken  out  through  a 
manhole  at  the  bottom  of  the  digester,  and  strained  to  remove  any 
coarse  particles  of  foreign  matter,  then  pressed  to  exclude  surplus 
water,  after  which  it  is  ready  for  the  paper-mill.  The  material 
obtained  by  this  sulphite  process  being  made  from  the  chips  retains 
longer  fibres  when  reduced  to  pulp  than  does  that  which  is  ground, 
and  it  is  this  fibre  which,  entering  into  the  finished  article,  gives 
added  strength  to  the  paper. 

Next  the  pulp  is  pumped  up  to  the  "  w^et  end"  of  the  machine. 
Paper-makers  call  one  end  of  the  long  paper-making  machine  the 
"  wet  end"  and  the  other  the  "  dry  end."  First  at  the  "  wet  end" 
is  the  screen,  a  box-like  arrangement  w^here  the  pulp  is  screened  of 
all  slivers  and  particles  too  large  to  knit  into  the  paper  fibre.  From 
the  screen  it  flows  into  the  head  box,  which  is  a  contrivance  that 
automatically  governs  the  head  or  flow^  of  pulp  upon  the  machine. 
This  flow  has  to  be  nicely  adjusted.  The  flow  must  be  just  right 
for  the  sheet  of  paper  to  be  of  the  right  thickness.  From  the  heajd 
box  the  pulp  flows  out  wath  the  wood  fibre  held  in  such  thin  solution 
that  it  looks  like  very  thin  milk. 

The  standard  width  of  the  wet  machine  is  seventy-two  inches 
face  of  press-rolls.  The  cylinder  vat  into  which  the  stock  is  received 
is  substantially  made  of  lumber.  It  supports  the  cylinder-mould  on 
which  the  sheet  is  formed,  and  has  partitions  for  directing  the  flow 
of  stock  evenly  and  uniformly  over  the  face  of  the  mould. 

The  cylinder-mould  is  a  roll  built  of  bronze  spiders  mounted 
on  a  steel  shaft,  and  covered  with  brass  rods  running  longitudinally, 
secured  by  a  close  winding  of  hard  copper  wire.  Outside  of  the 
wire  winding  are  two  faces  of  brass  wire  cloth,  fine  enough  so  that 
tlie  pulp  cannot  pass  throug-h  them,  thoug-h  the  water  can  readily. 

The  coucli-roll  shown  in  the  cut  at  the  top  of  the  vat  may  be 
either  rubber  or  wood  covered.  From  the  couch-roll  the  endless 
felt  carrying-  tlie  newly-formed  wet  sheet  of  pulp  passes  first  over 
the  suction-box,  then  over  the  guide-roll,  and  between  the  press- 
rolls'.  The  pulp  adheres  to  the  upper  press-roll,  where  it  is  allowed 
to  accumulate  to  a  sufficient  thickness,  and  is  then  cut  ofT. 

After  depositing  its  burden  of  pulp,  the  felt  is  beaten  by  the 
felt-beater,  sprayed  by  the  shower-pipe,  squeezed  by  the  squeeze- 


THE    AGE    OF    PAPER 


395 


rolls  and  stretched  by  the  stretchers,  and  freed  from  aU  adhering 
particles  of  pulp,  partially  dried,  and,  guided  straight  in  its  return 
course,  it  passes  again  to  the  couch-roll. 

The  Dilts  No.  3  Wet  Machine  is  shown  in  the  illustration.  The 
course  of  the  felt  is  straight  and  direct,  and  this  machine  is  so 
arranged  that  the  felt  can  be  quickly  and -easily  replaced. 

In  another  form  of  machine  the  pulp  flows  on  to  an  endless  wire 
straining-cloth  that  permits  the  running  off  of  a  large  portion  of 
the  water.     This  cloth  is  guarded  on  the  sides  by  endless  bands  or 


The  Dilts  Wet  Machine. 

deckles  that  run  under  the  dandy-rolls  of  the  machine.  These  rolls 
carry  the  wire-cloth,  and  any  particular  pattern  of  wire  will  produce 
a  corresponding  water-mark.  The  arrangement  of  the  wires  at  the 
dandy-roll  also  serves  to  determine  whether  the  paper  is  of  the  char- 
acter technically  known  as  "  laid"  or  "  wove."  While  the  film  of 
pulp  is  travelling  to  the  apron  it  is  subjected  to  a  side-shaking  in 
order  to  cause  the  fibres  of  the  pulp  to  cross  each  other. 

After  passing  the  dandy-roll,  a  save-all  box  catches  and  pre- 
serves the  water  that  drains  off,  in  order  to  save  any  size  or  coloring- 


396  .  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

matter  that  it  contains.  The  fihn  of  pulp  passes  on  to  the  couch- 
rolls,  and  thence  to  an  endless  wet  felt  apron,  on  which  it  rests  while 
carried  between  a  pair  of  rolls,  by  which  it  is  transferred  to  the 
press- felt  apron,  and  passes  to  the  pressure-rolls.  These  rolls  press 
out  nearly  all  the  remaining  water  and  bring  the  pulp  film  almost 
to  the  condition  of  paper.  From  this  point,  the  paper,  as  it  may 
now  be  called,  is  able  to  carry  itself  without  a  blanket  support,  and 
is  directed  on  between  various  drying  and  calendering  rolls,  some 
of  which  are  heated  in  order  to  take  out  any  remaining  dampness 
from  the  paper.  As  it  emerges  from  the  machine,  the  paper  is 
wound  up  in  enormous  rolls,  often  a  mile  or  more  in  length. 

About  20,000,000  pounds  of  paper  a  day  are  manufactured  in 
the  United  States,  this  being  greater  than  the  total  output  of  the 
mills  in  all  other  parts  of  the  world.  A  little  more  than  a  quarter 
of  this  goes  into  the  newspapers  of  the  country,  a  little  more  than 
one-eighth  into  books  and  magazines,  and  about  one-twentieth  part 
into  writing-papers.  The  remainder  is  made  into  wrapping-papers 
and  paper-boards,  as  for  boxes  and  similar  purposes. 

In  1 89 1  the  Philadelphia  Record  made  a  test  as  to  the  speed 
with  which  a  tree  in  the  forest  could  be  converted  into  a  newspaper 
ready  for  sale.  The  concern  owned  a  paper-mill,  and  so  was  able 
to  carry  out  the  experiment  satisfactorily.  The  time  from  the  put- 
ting of  the  axe  to  the  tree  to  the  offering  of  the  newspapers  on  the 
street  was  twenty-two  hours.  This  record  has  been  surpassed  since 
in  Germany,  presumably  in  a  place  where  the  mill  and  printing- 
press  were  in  the  same  establishment  or  close  by. 

There  are  several  Sunday  newspapers  in  the  United  States  that 
consume  as  much  as  a  hundred  tons  of  paper  in  printing  a  single 
issue,  thus  consuming  about  125  cords  of  wood  and  clearing  off 
about  six  acres  of  well-grown  spruce  timber  land. 

Japanese  paper  is  a  distinctly  different  product  from  American- 
made  paper.  It  has  a  strength  of  fibre  unknown  here,  and  is  supe- 
rior in  many  ways,  as  well  as  much  more  costly,  being  hand-made. 
They  use  the  bark  of  plants,  as  the  kodzu,  cutting  it  into  strips  of 
perhaps  a  yard  in  length,  which  are  tied  up  in  bundles,  and  then 
softened  in  water  containing  a  weak  solution  of  lye.  The  next 
process  is  treatment  with  a  special  form  of  mallet  for  separating 
the  strips  into  fine  fibres,  and  this  is  done  with  a  care  that  secures  a 
much  longer  fibre  than  is  had  in  American  manufacture.  In  making 
the  paper,  they  use  instead  of  the  animal  glue,  which  has  such  a 
rank  odor,  a  cement  made  from  the  roots  of  a  native  plant.  The 
pulped  fibres  are  spread  on  a  sieve  to  level  out  the  mass  by  shaking 


THE    AGE    OF    PAPER 


397 


and  let  the  water  drain  off,  much  as  we  do  in  making  paper  by  hand, 
after  which  it  is  rubbed  on  a  board  with  a  soft  instrument,  and 
dried  in  the  sun,  when  it  peels  off  the  board  as  a  sheet  of  remark- 
ably tough  paper.  It  is  this  sort  of  paper  that  the  Japanese  use  for 
window-glass,  and  it  is  also  twisted  into  threads  of  great  strength 
that  are  used  in  embroidery  and  ornamentation.  This  paper  is  also 
specially  adapted  by  its  porous  c[uality  to  use  for  writing  on  with 
India  ink  and  a  brush,  and  also  for  native  painting. 


Courtesy  Jeffrey  Manu&cturing  Company. 

A  Log  Haul-up  at  a  Lumber-Mill. 


The  methods  employed  for  testing  paper,  in  order  to  judge  ac- 
curately of  its  quality  and  value,  are  both  mechanical  and  chemical. 
For  determining  the  thickness  and  consequent  weight  per  ream,  a 


398  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

micrometer  gauge  is  applied  to  a  number  of  samples,  which  are 
weighed,  and  the  calculation  usually  reduced  to  the  weight  per 
square  foot.  For  determining  the  strength  of  paper,  a  dyna- 
mometer is  employed  that  records  the  weight  at  which  a  strip  of 
paper  breaks  under  strain,  and  also  the  amount  of  elongation  before 
rupture.  In  making  this  test,  strips  are  cut  from  the  paper,  both 
in  the  direction  of  the  fibres  and  across  the  grain.  The  latter  strip 
of  paper  is  the  weakest.  Tests  for  friction  are  usually  made  by 
hand,  folding  and  unfolding  the  paper,  and  noting  how  many  times 
it  can  be  creased  before  breaking,  and  also  by  alternately  crumbling 
the  paper  and  smoothing  it  out. 

In  order  to  judge  of  the  sort  of  fibre  used  in  a  paper,  it  is  cut 
in  strips  and  boiled  in  a  one  per  cent,  caustic  solution.  When  it  is 
sufficiently  pulped  it  is  collected  on  a  wire  gauze  and  examined  under 


Machine  lor  Keducin.i^  the  Indian-Corn  Plant  for  Paper-Makini;. 

the  microscope.  If  the  fibres  appear  brown  they  are  either  cotton, 
hemp,  flax,  or  ramie;  if  yellow,  jute;  if  no  color  is  apparent,  it  is 
either  wood-  or  straw-pulp  or  alfa.  Straw  is  detected  by  the  oblong 
cells  in  the  fibre  showing  under  the  microscope,  while  alfa  exhibits 
very  fine  fibre  and  saw-teeth,  cotton  resembles  a  ribbon  with  swell- 
ings and  spirals,  and  wood  has  transparent  wide  and  flat  cells. 

As  most  paper  is  made  of  wood-pulp,  and  its  quality  is  usually 
improved  by  the  addition  of  stronger  fibres,  it  is  often  desired  to 
determine  the  amount  of  wood-pulp  in  a  given  paper.  This  is  done 
by  dipping  a  sample  of  the  paper  into  a  mixture  of  hydrochloric  acid 
and  phloroglucine  dissolved  in  alcohol,  when  the  wood-pulp  reveals 
a  rose  color — the  rosier  the  tint,  the  greater  the  quantity  of  wood. 
There  are  sometimes  free  acids  in  paper,  which  are  damaging  to 
its  quality,  and  these  may  be  detected  by  burning  the  paper  and 
analyzing  the  ashes. 


THE    AGE    OF    PAPER 


399 


Sizing  is  tested  to  discover  fecula  or  starch,  also  for  resin  and 
for  gelatin.  When  the  paper  is  dipped  in  a  dark  solution  of  iodine 
the  starch  in  the  sizing  will  turn  blue;  when  ether  is  dropped  on 
the  paper,  if  there  is  resin  in  the  sizing,  it  forms  an  aureole  within 
a  dull  circle;  the  gelatin  test  consists  in  boiling  water,  filtering  the 
pulp,  and  treating  with  tannin.  To  discover  whether  the  sizing 
on  the  paper  covers  it  properly  on  both  sides,  a  solution  of  iron  is 
allowed  to  flow  across  one  side  of  the  paper  in  drops  so  that  it  forms 
a  number  of  wet  lines  across  the  sheet.  A  solution  of  tannin  is 
then  flowed  across  the  other  side  of  the  paper,  so  that  the  wet  lines 
cross  each  other.  If  the  sizing  is  inadequate  at  any  point  where 
the  lines  cross,  the  solutions  will  mix  and  form  a  blot. 


THE    WONDERFUL    INSTRUMENTS    OF    SCIENCE 

The  work  of  the  scientist  of  one  decade  is  often  the  work  of 
some  industry  in  the  next,  for  to  the  men  who  study  nature's  laws, 
largely  from  pure  love  of  finding  out  her  secrets,  every  industry  is 
indebted  in  large  measure.  It  is  therefore  difficult  to  separate  the 
instruments  of  science  from  the  instruments  of  trade,  but  the  en- 


^ 


Equatorial  Telescope,  Lick  Observatory. 


deavor  is  made  here,  largely  for  the  sake  of  covering  those  instru- 
ments of  a  more  or  less  scientific  character,  which  are  not  mentioned 
or  described  in  some  other  portion  of  this  work. 

The  instruments  of  the  astronomer  may  be  classed  as  purely 
scientific,  since  they  are  used  wholly  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 
The  telescope  being  the  astronomer's  principal  instrument  naturally 

400 


THE    WONDERFUL    INSTRUMENTS    OF    SCIENCE  401 

comes  up  first  for  consideration.  It  is  manufactured  on  two  dis- 
tinct and  different  principles,  one  being  termed  the  refracting  tele- 
scope and  the  other  the  reflecting.  In  the  refractor,  a  lens  or  object- 
glass  brings  the  rays  of  light  to  a  focus,  where  they  are  viewed  by 
an  eyepiece  that  is  virtually  a  microscope.  In  the  reflector,  a  great 
concave  mirror  is  used  to  catch  and  reflect  the  image. 

Among  the  largest  and  most  successful  refracting  telescopes, 
which  are  the  sort  most  in  use,  are  the  Lick  telescope  located  at  the 
observatory  on  Mount  Hamilton,  California.  This  has  a  focal  length 
of  fifty-seven  feet  and  a  fifty-two-foot  tube,  the  object-glass  being 
thirty-six  inches  in  diameter.  It  was  the  largest  in  the  world  at  the 
time  it  was  built,  and,  owing  to  its  superior  location  on  a  mountain 
in  a  rarefied  atmosphere,  is  still  the  best  equipped  for  difficult  feats 
of  seeing,  and  the  observing  of  minute  objects,  as  the  fifth  satellite 
of  Jupiter,  which  was  discovered  through  its  use.  Probably  this 
telescope  has  added  more  to  the  sum  total  of  the  astronomer's  knowl- 
edge than  any  other  one  instrument  that  could  be  named. 

Of  greater  size,  but  less  fortunately  located  than  the  Lick,  is  the 
great  Yerkes  refractor,  at  Lake  Geneva,  Wisconsin.  The  lens  of  this 
instrument  is  said  to  have  cost  $100,000,  and  it  is  mounted  in  an 
85-foot  dome.  The  supports  and  mechanism  are  of  course  very 
heavy,  the  driving-clock  alone  weighing  3000  pounds  and  the  hour- 
axis  three  and  a  half  tons.  The  object-glass  of  the  Yerkes  tele- 
scope is  41^  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  focal  length  is  sixty-five 
feet.  Only  two  larger  object-glasses  have  been  made,  that  of  the 
telescope  of  Gruenewald  shown  at  the  Berlin  Exposition,  which  was 
forty-three  inches  in  diameter,  and  a  lens  completed  by  John  Peate 
for  the  American  University  at  Washington,  D.  C,  which  is  sixty- 
two  inches  in  diameter. 

The  reflecting  telescope  styled  the  "  Grande  Lunette,"  shown 
at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1900,  is  the  most  remarkable  instrument 
of  its  kind.  The  tube  is  197  feet  in  length,  and  the  lens  fifty  inches 
in  diameter.  The  tube  is  permanently  mounted  on  a  row  of  stone 
piers.  The  glass  mirror,  which  is  seventy-nine  inches  in  diameter 
and  weighs  almost  four  tons,  is  placed  at  an  angle  at  one  end  that 
it  may  receive  the  reflections  and  throw  them  down  the  tube.  In 
order  that  the  mirror  may  be  turned  easily,  it  is  floated  in  a  bath 
of  mercury.  The  siderostat  is  mounted  on  a  massive  iron  frame, 
and  by  means  of  clockwork  causes  the  mirror  to  follow  the  motion 
of  any  star  that  has  been  selected  for  viewing.  The  entire  cost  of 
this  instrument  is  stated  as  $400,000. 

The  refracting  telescopes  are,  as  a  rule,  mounted  equatorially, 

26 


402 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


that  is,  so  that  they  can  be  turned  with  the  motion  of  the  earth's 
equator,  and  thus  be  kept  fixed  on  a  point  in  the  heavens,  as  when 
taking  a  photograph  that  requires  a  long  exposure.  It  is  beheved 
that  the  hmit  of  size  of  this  sort  of  telescope  is  about  reached,  as 
the  immense  weight  of  the  tube  makes  it  difficult  to  preserve  exact 


Courtes',    Munn  .\ 


1  he  "Grande  Lunette"   Reflecting  Telescope. 


alignment,  changes  of  temperature  or  the  slightest  strains  affecting 
the  accuracy  of  the  whole  structure. 

Reflecting  telescopes  are  more  commonly  built  wath  an  im- 
movable supported  tube,  as  the  "  Grande  Lunette"  described.  A 
notable  exception,  how-ever,  is  the  Crossley  reflector,  located  at  the 
Lick  Observatory,  and  the  largest  instrument  of  its  kind  in  America. 
It  has  a  three-foot  mirror,  and  is  mounted  equatorially,  wdthout 
any  tube,  in  the  manner  readily  apparent  from  the  illustration.     It 


THE    WONDERFUL    INSTRUMENTS    OF    SCIENCE 


403 


is  provided  with  a  driving-clock  similar  to  that  of  the  large  Lick 
refractor.  This  reflector  is  used  mainly  for  photographic  work,  and 
has  been  used  very  successfully  in  photographing  nebulae.  Each 
photograph  taken  with  it  usually  yields  several  new  nebulae  to  be 
added  to  the  recorded  list,  as  many  as  thirty-one  having  been  dis- 
covered on  a  single  plate.  Professor  Keeler  estimates  that  there  are 
at  least  120,000  nebulae  within  the  reach  of  the  reflector.  Stellar 
spectroscopy  is  also  a  fruitful  field  of  research  for  this  instrument. 

The  spectroscope,  used  with  the  telescope,  is  responsible  for  a 
very  large  share  of  the  increased  knowledge  of  the  universe.  A 
spectrum  is  an  image  of  dispersed  light,  as  thrown  on  a  screen  by  a 
prism  through  which  a  ray  is  directed,  and  its  light  dispersed.  A 
spectroscope  is  an  instrument  for  spectrum  analysis.  It  has  a  colli- 
mating  lens ;  that  is,  a  lens  set  in  a  tube  with  a  slit  at  its  focus,  so 
that  the  light  passes  through  the  lens,  the  slit,  and  then  the  prism ; 
after  passing  these  the  light  continues  through  a  train  of  prisms  in 
a  semicircle  to  a  point  where  it  forms  a  spectrum  and  may  be  viewed 
with  a  small  telescope.  The  more  prisms  there  are  used  in  a  spectro- 
scope, the  wider  is  the  dispersion  of  the  rays  and  the  more  easily 
are  the  lines  of  the  spectrum  studied.  By  using  a  very  finely-ruled 
grating,  called  a  diffraction  grating,  diffraction  spectra  may  be  ob- 
tained, and  with  a  Rowland  concave  grating  a  real  image  may  be 
obtained  for  throwing  on  a  screen  or  photographing. 

By  studying  the  lines  of  the  solar  spectrum  it  has  been  deter- 
mined that  the  elements  we  have  on  the  earth,  as  iron,  mercury, 
hydrogen,  oxygen,  carbon,  etc.,  exist  also  in  the  sun.  This  is  known 
positively,  because  when  a  metal,  as  mercury,  is  heated  red  hot,  so 
that  it  begins  to  vaporize,  and  its  spectrum  is  studied,  it  is  found  to 
exhibit  certain  lines,  which  lines  are  duplicated  in  the  solar  spec- 
trum. In  this  way  it  has  been  determined  that  the  stars  generally 
are  made  of  the  same  elements  or  materials  as  the  earth,  differing, 
however,  in  various  respects,  so  that  they  are  classified  by  astrono- 
mers according  to  the  nature  of  their  spectra.  Our  sun  is  classified 
in  a  group  noticeable  for  the  prominence  of  metals ;  another  group 
includes  luminous  bluish-white  stars,  having  spectra  rich  in  blue 
rays,  marked  by  dark  lines  due  to  hydrogen,  and  so  on. 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  things  learned  by  the  spectroscope 
is  the  motion  of  particular  stars.  Though  a  single  star  throws  a 
very  faint  light  down  the  tube  of  a  spectroscope,  yet  in  many  cases 
the  spectrum  obtainable  is  sufficiently  clear  to  exhibit  a  shifting  of 
the  lines.  When  the  star  is  moving  towards  the  observer  the  lines 
tend  to  shift  to  the  blue  end  of  the  spectrum ;    when  the  star  is 


404 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


moving  away,  they  shift  to  the  red  end ;  and  the  amount  of  the 
shifting  is  a  measure  of  the  speed  of  motion.  A  star  coming  towards 
us  grows  more  orange  or  red,  and  a  star  going  away  appears  more 
bluish.  A  study  of  the  motions  of  stars,  as  learned  from  the  spectro- 
scope, has  led  astronomers  to  state  the  speeds  of  motion  of  certain 
stars  as  so  many  miles  per  second  with  the  assurance  that  they  could 
not  be  mistaken  in  the  speed  more  than  one  per  cent. ! 


The  Crosslcv  Reflector. 


Dark  stars — that  is,  stars  that  give  out  no  light,  and  which  it 
might  naturally  be  supposed  we  would  never  learn  of — have  been 
discovered  in  considerable  numbers  by  means  of  the  spectroscope. 
This  remarkable  result  has  been  attained  by  observing  the  motion 
of  certain  stars,  which  sped  towards  us  and  from  us  in  regular 
periods,  that  showed  them  to  be  moving  in  orbits  around  or  influ- 
enced by  some  other  body  that  was  invisible.  That  a  human  being 
should  be  able  to  know  of  the  existence  of  a  non-luminous  star 


THE    WONDERFUL    INSTRUMENTS    OF    SCIENCE 


405 


countless  millions  of  miles  away,  and  to  state  certainly  something 
as  to  its  probable  size,  weight,  and  motion,  is  a  triumph  of  mechan- 
ism and  intelligence  unsurpassed  by  any  other  achievement  of  the 
human  race. 

A  most  interesting  device  for  demonstrating  to  the  vision  of 
spectators  the  fact  that  the  earth  rotates  was  made  by  Foucault  in 
Paris,  in  1851,  the  idea  of  the  apparatus  having  been  suggested  by 
Galileo  in  1601.  The  apparatus  was  reconstructed,  and  the  experi- 
ment tried  again  in  the  Paris  Pantheon  in  1902.  It  is  based  on  the 
principle  that  a  swinging  pendulum  tends  to  continue  its  vibrations 
in  the  same  plane,  so  that  though  the  earth  may  shift  in  position 
because  of  its  rotation,  yet  the  pendulum  swings  on,  appearing  to 
alter  its  direction  of  motion.     In  the  1902  experiment  a  piece  of 


Astronomical  Observatory,  Harvard  University. 

piano  wire,  two  hundred  feet  long,  w^as  hung  from  the  top  of  the 
Pantheon  dome;  at  the  end  was  hung  a  fifty-pound  ball  of  lead, 
with  a  steel  needle  or  pointer  protruding  from  the  lower  side.  Fine 
sand  being  spread  over  the  floor,  the  ball  was  hung  so  that  as  it 
swung  it  faintly  traced  its  movement  in  the  sand.  The  ball  was  tied 
to  one  side  with  a  thread,  which  was  burned  away  by  the  flame  of 
a  match,  as  shown  in  the  illustration.  The  movement  of  the  pen- 
dulum was  started  in  this  way  to  insure  against  any  accidental  side 
vibrations  in  starting  by  hand.  A  large  concourse  witnessed  the 
swinging  of  the  pendulum,  and  at  each  passage  across  the  sand  it 
marked  out  a  new  line,  slightly  different  from  the  previous  one^ 
showing  the  extent  of  the  earth's  rotation  during  the  period  of  the 
pendulum's  beat.     After  a  time,  the  pendulum's  course  so  changed 


4o6 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


that  it  was  swinging  at  right  angles  to  the  original  swing.  Any  one 
who  will  take  the  trouble  to  take  a  ball,  and  mark  the  poles  on  it 
and  the  assumed  position  of  Paris,  and  then  hold  a  sheet  of  paper 
in  a  given  plane  perpendicular  to  Paris  on  the  wall,  and  turn  the 
ball  around,  just  as  the  earth  turns  on  its  axis,  can  figure  out  for 
himself  the  changing  of  the  position  of  the  pendulum,  which  con- 
tinues to  swing  in  the  plane  of  the  paper. 

The  talking-machine  belongs  naturally  under  this  chapter, 
though  it  has  its  commercial  and  amusement  purposes.  Thomas 
A.  Edison  is  the  father  of  the  phonograph.  Noting  the  crudity  of 
the  phonautograph,  an  instrument  invented  by  Leon  Scott  for  re- 


Courtesj'  IJterary  IJiijest. 

Pendulum  Experiment  for  Proving  Earth's  Rotation. 

cording  the  vibrations  of  sounds,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  repro- 
ducing the  human  voice  or  other  sounds  by  causing  a  bristle  on  a 
vibrating  diaphragm  to  indent  a  coated  cylinder.  The  cylinder  thus 
securing  a  record  of  the  vibrations  of  the  voice  was  made  to  repro- 
duce them  by  causing  the  diaphragm  to  be  vibrated  again  as  the 
cylinder  was  rotated.  In  other  words,  the  simple  reversal  of  the 
recording  mechanism  reproduces  the  voice.  The  second  phono- 
graph that  he  built  was  very  much  like  the  instruments  in  use  to- 
day, except  that  now  they  are  better  made,  and  have  many  minor 
devices  insuring  smooth  working  and  more  distinct  reproduction. 


THE    WONDERFUL    INSTRUMENTS    OF    SCIENCE 


407 


The  wax  cylinder,  as  a  substitute  for  a  tin-foil  surface,  was 
invented  by  Bell  and  Tainter,  and  McDonald  and  many  others  made 
later  improvements.  The  waxy  surface  of  the  cylinders,  which  is 
really  a  sort  of  toughened  soap,  is  melted  in  a  cauldron  and  moulded 
on  the  cylinders,  which  are  turned  off  in  a  sort  of  lathe  to  insure 
accuracy  of  surface.  It  is  apparent  that  the  records  of  songs, 
speeches,  and  the  like  have  to  be  duplicated  in  a  cheap  manner  to 
render  them  available  for  general  use.  If  a  famous  singer  had  to 
sing  a  song  through  every  time  a  record  was  made,  it  would  cost 
as  much  for  the  record  as  to  pay  for  a  box-seat  at  several  perform- 
ances by  the  same  singer.  An  apparatus  is  therefore  used  which 
enables  an  original  record,  specially  well  made,  to  serve  as  a  guide 
for  a  stylus  to  cut  duplicate  records  in  other  cylinders. 

The  gramophone  is  a  machine  somewhat  similar  to  the  phono- 
graph, invented  by  E.  Berliner,  and  employing  a  rotating  disk  in- 
stead of  a  cylinder  for  the  record.  The  graphophone  is  the  name 
given  to  an  improved  form  of  phonograph,  using  either  a  disk  or  a 
cylinder.  The  complication  of  names  is  unnecessarily  confusing, 
as  there  is  also  the  telegraphone,  applied  to  those  forms  of  the  ia- 
strument  wherein  the  sound  is  transmitted  to  or  from  the  diaphragm 
though  a  wire,  water-tube,  etc.,  connecting  with  the  stylus. 

The  substitution  of  paper  for  metal  in  the  speaking-horn  and 
parts  leading  to  it  have  resulted  in  reducing  the  brassy  sound,  which 
is  objectionable  in.  many  instruments.  M.  Burguet,  a  French  in- 
ventor, a  few  years  since  devised  a  new  diaphragm  calculated  to 
render  a  more  perfect  imitation  of  the  natural  tones  of  the  voice. 
He  uses  a  mica  diaphragm,  which  has  a  series  of  little  rods  con- 
necting with  the  central  stylus  in  such  a  manner  that  the  vibrations 
of  the  voice  alone  affect  the  stylus,  the  vibrations  incidental  to  the 
diaphragm  itself  not  affecting  the  little  rods.  This  prevents  dis- 
torting metallic  sounds. 

A  phonograph  that  will  reproduce  its  records  photographically 
has  been  constructed  by  Emanuel  Cervenka,  a  Bohemian.  The 
vibrations  of  the  diaphragm  are  used  to  vibrate  a  little  mirror,  which 
reflects  a  pencil  of  light  on  a  cylinder  covered  with  a  sensitive  gela- 
tin film,  thus  producing  a  photographic  sinuous  line  on  the  cylinder, 
the  equivalent  of  the  usual  curved  line  of  a  record.  By  treating 
the  gelatin  after  the  manner  well  known  to  photo-engravers,  the  line 
can  be  made  either  a  groove,  as  in  an  ordinary  record  cylinder,  or 
can  be  made  elevated. 

In  1900  there  were  eleven  establishments  located  in  seven 
different   States   in   the   country   manufacturing  phonographs   and 


4o8 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


graphophones,  having  a  capital  of  $3,350,000,  and  producing 
$2,250,000  worth  of  instruments  and  apparatus  yearly.  The  in- 
dustry gives  employment  to  1400  men,  and  they  made  151,000 
machines  during  1900,  besides  nearly  3,000,000  records. 

The  total  result  of  these  inventions  and  their  manufacture  on 
a  large  scale  is  that  talking-machines  can  be  bought  from  $5  up  to 
$150,  and  records  from  twenty  cents  each  up  to  $3.  An  ordinary 
cylinder  record  will  hold  an  average  of  a  thousand  words,  the 
equivalent  of  about  two  pages  of  this  book.  While  the  phono- 
graph is  principally  known  as  a  means  of  reproducing  for  amuse- 
ment, it  has  an  important  and  growing  use  as  a  medium  of  dictation. 
The  busy  man  dictates  his  letters  or  articles  into  the  phonograph  as 


Courtesy  Literary  Digest. 


Cervenka's  Phonograph. 


fast  or  as  slowly  as  suits  his  convenience,  and  his  typewriter,  who' 
need  not  be  a  stenographer,  reproduces  them  more  accurately  and 
easily  than  is  possible  with  oral  dictation,  as  the  phonograph  can  be 
set  going  at  any  pace,  and  can  be  made  to  repeat  without  difficulty 
or  annoyance. 

The  acoustiphone  of  H.  G.  Pape  is  a  new  invention  intended' 
to  assist  or  improve  telephoning.  By  its  use  all  the  conversation  in 
a  room  can  be  heard  at  a  great  distance,  and  it  has  such  good  acoustic 
properties  that  the  inventor  expects  it  to  make  the  telephone  avail- 
able for  the  deaf.  It  is  a  sort  of  simplified  acousticon,  or  instrument 
for  reporting  a  concert  or  the  like  to  a  listener  located  at  a  distant 
'phone. 


THE    WONDERFUL    INSTRUMENTS    OF    SCIENCE 


409 


A  talking  mechanism  based  on  altogether  different  principles 
has  been  produced  by  Dr.  R.  Marage,  a  French  scientist.  He  has 
made  a  series  of  plaster  casts  representing  heads  and  having  aper- 
tures of  different  sizes.  By  blowing  air  through  one  he  gets  the 
vowel  "  a,"  another  "  e,"  another  "  i,"  and  so  on,  and  by  working 
them  in  combination  they  produce  words  and  sentences.  The  oper- 
ation is  purely  mechanical,  based  on  the  theory  that  language  is  a 
modification  of  utterances  of  the  five  vowels. 


Marage's  Talking  Casts. 

The  akouphone  and  the  acousticon  are  instruments  noteworthy 
in  this  connection,  their  object  being  to  assist  the  partially  deaf  in 
hearing.  They  are  designed  to  emphasize  articulation  by  magnifi- 
cation, so  that  a  whisper  is  made  to  be  readily  heard  and  understood 
by  any  one  whose  hearing  is  not  totally  destroyed.  They  are  espe- 
cially useful  for  deaf-mutes,  being  based  in  principle  upon  the  micro- 
phone and  having  a  pocket  battery  to  furnish  the  current  for  in- 
creasing the  sound. 

In  the  field  of  optics  the  series  of  instruments  based  on  Edison's 
kinetoscope,  which  have  given  to  the  world  the  moving  pictures,  are 
easily  the  most  important  of  recent  years.  Every  invention  has  a 
forerunner,  and  the  kinetoscope  is  a  development  of  the  phenakisto- 
scope,  but  about  as  superior  as  a  live  monkey  is  to  a  toy  jumping- 
jack.  Edison  has  been  criticised  because  his  inventions  are  mainly 
improvements  of  what  some  one  else  began,  but  such  criticism 
exhibits  the  small  mind.  Edison  bettered  every  field  of  mechanism 
that  he  touched,  and  made  modern  marvels  out  of  useless  toys,  as 
in  the  present  instance ;    he  deserves  all  the  credit  he  has  received, 


4iO  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

even  if  he  did  have  to  turn  over  the  detail  of  very  much  of  his  work 
to  trained  assistants.  No  other  man  has  done  more  than  he  to  make 
this  the  age  of  electricity. 

The  phenakistoscope  can  be  made  of  card-board  by  any  one,  and 
serves  rudely  to  illustrate  the  basic  principle  of  moving  pictures„ 
It  has  a  disk  on  which  are  mounted,  say,  ten  pictures  of  a  girl  jump- 
ing a  rope,  the  pictures  showing  ten  successive  positions.  A  larger 
disk  rotating  outside  of  the  picture  disk  has  radial  slits  through 
which  the  pictures  can  be  seen.  When  the  two  disks  are  rotated 
before  a  mirror  the  observer  may  look  through  the  slits  and  see  the 
reflection  of  each  picture  in  such  a  way  that  it  appears  as  one  picture 
of  a  girl  jumping  the  rope. 

What  Edison  did  was  to  substitute  a  photographic  film  for  the 
pictures,  devising  a  means  of  taking  the  photographs  of  a  moving 
subject  at  the  rate  of  forty-six  a  second,  a  rate  never  previously 
obtained,  and  to  reproduce  these  pictures  by  throwing  them  on  a 
screen,  where  they  appeared  as  one  moving  picture.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  host  of  minor  inventors  who  produced  the  biograph, 
cinematograph,  etc.,  these  being  machines  for  reproducing  the 
pictures.  For  an  explanation  of  the  manner  in  which  trick  moving 
pictures  are  produced,  see  the  chapter  on  "  The  Machinery  of 
Amusement." 

Instruments  for  utilizing  or  exhibiting  the  X-rays  discovered 
by  Roentgen  have  been  developed  to  a  high  degree.  These  rays 
have  always  existed,  so  far  as  we  know,  just  as  have  light  rays,  yet 
our  eyes  do  not  appreciate  them;  but  by  passing  them  through  a 
fluorescent  screen  they  develop  lig'ht,  and  it  is  thus  we  are  able  to 
see  the  bones  of  a  hand  in  an  X-ray  apparatus.  The  X-ray  affects 
photographic  plates,  and  enables  the  photographing  of  the  interior 
of  a  human  being,  finding  its  most  important  use  in  enabling  the 
surgeon  to  locate  a  bullet,  a  fractured  bone,  or  the  like. 

The  method  of  taking  an  X-ray  photograph  consists  in  placing 
the  object  to  be  photographed,  as  a  man's  foot,  between  an  X-ray 
tube  or  bulb  and  a  sensitized  plate,  so  that  the  rays  emanating  from 
the  tube  will  pass  through  the  foot,  and  be  intercepted  by  the  bones 
or  any  mineral  or  dense  substance,  photographing  the  same  on  the 
plate.  The  X-ray  tube,  which  is  based  on  the  Crookes  tube,  is  made 
in  several  forms,  being  a  glass  bulb,  in  which  as  perfect  a  vacuum 
as  possible  is  produced,  and  the  positive  and  negative  wires  of  a 
battery  or  other  electric  source  connected  to  the  tube  so  that  they 
may  form  a  spark  across  a  gap  in  the  vacuum.  Inside  the  tube  is  a 
deflecting  plate  of  platinum,  through  which  metal  the  rays  do  not 


THE    WONDERFUL    INSTRUMExNTS    OF    SCIENCE  411 

pass,  but  which  deflects  them,  directing  them  towards  the  photo- 
graphic plate,  this  method  securing  a  sharper  shadow  than  where 
the  platinum  plate  is  omitted. 

The  fluoroscope  for  observing  the  rays  visually  is  a  dark  box 
with  a  place  to  apply  the  eyes,  and  a  screen  covered  with  a  layer  of 
fluorescing  material,  as  calcium  tungstate  or  fluoride  of  ammonia 
and  uranium.  The  inside  of  the  box  is  blackened,  and  the  screen 
larger  form  of  fluoroscope  is  used  for  exhibition  purposes.  See 
illustration,  page  31. 


BRIDGES— BIG,  LITTLE,  AND    PECULIAR 

Bridge  construction  has  ever  been  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing branches  of  engineering  science.  The  problem  of  building  a 
heavy  roadway  over  a  long  span  and  giving  it  sufficient  strength, 
not  only  to  hold  up  its  own  weight,  but  to  support  a  crowd  of  vehi- 
cles and  people,  is  one  that  has  been  met  successfully  in  many  ways, 
and  there  are  few  instances  where  great  bridges  have  given  way 
through  any  fault  of  the  designers.     The  great  gains  made  in  the 


Principle  of  the  Bridge  Truss. 

strength  of  steel-wire  cables  within  recent  years  have  made  it  possi- 
ble to  build  larger  and  larger  bridges  with  greater  and  greater 
reserves  of  strength.  When  iron  came  into  use,  stone  was  still 
used  for  the  supporting  piers  and  towers,  but  of  late  steel  construc- 
tion has  made  such  gains  that  it  is  now  becoming  the  practice  to 
build  the  towers  and  even  parts  of  the  piers  of  steel. 

As   named    from   their   method   of   construction,    bridges    are 

412 


BRIDGES— BIG,  LITTLE,  AND    PECULIAR 


413 


known  as  through-bridges  when  the  roadway  passes  between  the 
system  of  trusses,  and  as  deck-bridges  when  the  deck  or  roadway- 
is  on  top  of  the  trusses.  A  bridge  having  an  arched  truss  above 
the  deck  is  called  a  bow-string  bridge  from  its  form.  When  the 
girders  are  crossed  it  is  known  as  a  lattice-bridge.  Bridges  are 
also  named  from  the  nature  of  their  supports,  as  pile-bridge,  trestle- 
bridge,  etc. ;  or  the  nature  of  the  draw,  as  hoist-bridge,  lift-bridge, 
swing-bridge,  turn-bridge,  etc.  By  far  the  greatest  number  of 
bridges  built  to-day  are  constructed  of  steel  trusses,  the  principle 


Cantilever  Bridge  at  Niagara. 

involved  being  the  crossing  or  bracing  of  ro.ds  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  strains  are  received  lengthwise  instead  of  crosswise.  A 
few  simple  forms  of  trusses  are  shown  in  the  accompanying  draw- 
ings. 

The  truss,  which  embodies  the  fundamental  strength-giving 
feature  in  a  great  majority  of  bridges,  is  simply  an  arrangement 
of  metal  bars  and  rods,  so  braced  as  to  give  the  greatest  resistance 
to  the  strains.  Reduced  to  its  simplest  proportions,  it  may  be  illus- 
trated thus :  a  is  the  bridge  floor,  b  and  b  are  compression  members, 
and  c  is  a  tie-rod  or  tensile  member.     The  weight  on  a  is  supported 


414 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


at  c,  causing-  a  downward  pull  that  tends  to  compress  h  and  h  in 
the  direction  of  their  lengths.  The  resistance  of  a  rectangular  or 
an  angle  bar  to  such  compression  is  very  great,  hence  an  enormous 
weight  can  be  supported  by  materials  which  would  readily  break  if 
laid  flat  in  the  form  of  a.  The  same  result  can  be  obtained  by  re- 
versing the  truss,  as  in  the  lower  diagram,  where  h  becomes  the  com- 
pression member  and  c  and  c  are  tie-rods. 

Practically  all  bridges  were  built  of  wood  or  stone  prior  to 
1779,  when  the  first  iron  bridge  was  built  in  England  over  the  river 
Severn,  where  it  still  stands  to-day,  the  place  being  known  as  Iron- 
bridge.  The  first  suspension  bridge  was  the  famous  Menai  Straits 
bridge,  erected  in  North  Wales  in  1826,  and  costing  about  $100,000. 


.  .     ^  '         i  xf       -    ^  i~«L^-4^.fcdJ« 

Halstead  Street  Towei    Bridge,  Chicago. 


Great  iron  chains  were  used  to  hold  up  the  bridge,  the  main  span 
being  579  feet  long.  A  few  years  later  there  was  built  at  Fribourg, 
in  Switzerland,  the  first  suspension  bridge  having  iron  wires  for 
supporting.  The  most  important  cantilever  bridge  is  that  over  the 
Firth  of  Forth  in  Scotland.  In  most  respects  this  is  the  biggest 
bridge  ever  built,  employing  more  metal  for  the  work  accomplished 
than  any  subsequent  bridge. 

In  describing  a  number  of  the  larger  bridges,  it  is  well  to  take 
the  Firth  of  Forth  bridge  as  a  starting-point,  in  order  to  note  the 
improvements.  This  bridge  was  designed  on  the  cantilever  prin- 
ciple, which  consists  in  extending  the  girders  in  both  directions  from 
a  pier,  hanging  them  to  a  short  tower  on  the  pier.     In  this  way  they 


I,  Wisteria  and  First  Bridge  Temple,  Tokio,  Japan  ;  2,  Cabin  John  Bridge,  Washington,  span. 
220  feet;  3,  view  of  the  Great  Rio  Grande  braced  arch  bridge  from  underneath  ;  4,  new  arch  bridge 
across  the  Aare,  at  Berne,  Switzerland,  main  span  37654  feet  in  length  ;  5,  the  beautiful  steel  bridge 
at  Bonn,  with  piers  designed  to  match  the  medieval  castles  of  the  Rhine,  main  span  6i6;4  feet  long, 
two  side -spans  each  113  feet  long;  6,  the  ferry-bridge  at  Bizerta ;  7,  the  North  Elbe  bridge,  Ham- 
burg ;  each  of  the  main  spans  is  325  feet  in  length. 


4i6  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

balance  each  other,  so  that  if  there  a.re  several  piers  in  a  bridge,  each 
pier  supports  half  of  the  span  on  either  side  of  it,  and  is  perfectly 
independent  of  the  other  piers.  The  Forth  bridge  is  8296  feet  long 
over  all,  and  its  longest  cantilevers  are  of  1700  feet  span.  Owing 
to  the  inferior  strength  of  the  metal  obtainable  at  that  date,  it  was 
necessary  to  make  the  towers  360  feet  above  high  water  in  order 
to  secure  sufficient  leverage  to  brace  the  structure  properly.  A 
single  span  of  this  bridge  weighs  17,900  tons;  the  principal  com- 
pression members  of  the  cantilevers  are  tubes  of  twelve  feet  diam- 
eter, which  tends  to  give  an  added  appearance  of  weight  and 
clumsiness  to  the  bridge. 

The  Brooklyn  bridge  which  connects  New  York  and  Brooklyn, 
opposite  City  Hall,  New  York.,  was  completed  in  1883,  and  is  very 
superior  in  design  to  the  Forth  bridge.  Its  extreme  length  is  5989 
feet,  and  the  main  span,  measuring  from  centre  to  centre  of  sup- 
ports, is  1596  feet,  so  that  in  size  it  compares  pretty  nearly  with 
the  Forth  bridge.  The  average  weight  of  the  superstructures  per 
lineal  foot  is  7400  pounds,  which  is  only  forty  per  cent,  of  the  weight 
of  material  in  the  Forth  bridge.  The  money  cost  of  the  two  bridges 
was  about  the  same — between  $12,000,000  and  $15,000,000 — al- 
though the  actual  cost  of  the  Brooklyn  bridge  is  believed  to  have 
been  about  one-half,  the  remainder  being  used  up  in  financiering. 
The  towers  of  the  Brooklyn  bridge  are  made  of  masonry,  and  stand 
278  feet  above  high-water  mark ;  the  tower  on  the  New  York  side, 
whose  foundations  are  deepest,  contains  47,000  cubic  yards  of 
masonry.  The  roadway  is  eighty-five  feet  in  width,  and  includes 
a  double  track  for  cable-cars,  two  tracks  for  trolley  street-cars,  two 
roads  for  wagons,  and  one  footway  or  promenade. 

In  the  present  year,  1904,  there  is  nearly  completed  another 
bridge  over  the  East  River,  extending  from  near  Grand  Street,  in 
New  York,  to  the  northern  part  of  Brooklyn,  locally  termed  Wil- 
liamsburg. This  bridge  marks  a  considerable  advance  over  the 
older  Brooklyn  bridge.  Its  towers  are  built  entirely  of  steel  above 
water,  and  its  main  span  is  1600  feet  long.  It  is  in  the  carrying 
capacity  that  the  Williamsburg  bridge  chiefly  surpasses  the  bridges 
previously  mentioned.  Its  roadways  have  a  total  width  of  118  feet, 
Avhich  is  nearly  three  times  the  width  of  the  Forth  bridge  roadway. 
In  the  centre  is  a  promenade  for  foot-travellers,  and  on  each  side  of 
this  are  double  railway  tracks,  and  beyond  these  two  18-foot  road- 
ways for  vehicles.  Above  the  first  roadway  is  a  double  bicycle-way, 
with  a  space  for  foot-travellers  between.  On  yet  a  third  level  are 
tracks   for  bridge-cars.     The  roadways  and  tracks  rise  from  the 


Comparison  of  Bridge  Toweis  over  East  River,  New  York. 
I,  Blackwell's  Island  Bridge;  2,  Williamsburg  Bridge;  3,  East  River  Bridge. 

27 


4i8  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

approaches  at  a  gentle  grade  to  the  highest  point  at  the  centre  of 
the  bridge,  where  they  are  140  feet  above  high- water  mark. 

The  next  step  in  advance  of  the  Wihiamsburg  bridge  is  well 
marked  in  the  bridge  under  construction  a  few  miles  north,  crossing 
the  East  River  at  Blackwell's  Island.  The  total  length  of  this 
bridge  is  7636  feet,  or  longer  than  any  of  those  so  far  discussed. 
Its  spans  are  shorter,  however,  being  1182  and  984  feet  in  length. 
This  bridge  is  to  be  completed  in  1906  at  an  expected  cost  of  $12,- 
500,000.  Its  construction  is  novel  in  that  it  includes  elevators  and 
stairways  at  the  central  pier  on  Blackwell's  Island.  Having  shorter 
spans  than  the  before-mentioned  bridges,  the  towers  are  of  less 
height  and  the  strains  on  the  material  considerably  less. 

The  principle  of  a  suspension  bridge  is  simple  suspension  of  a 
roadway  with  wire  cables  hung  over  towers.  This  bridge  substi- 
tutes eye-bars  for  wire  cables,  and  engineers  have  severely  criticised 
this  feature,  on  the  ground  that  such  will  involve  more  weight  for 
the  same  strength,  but  the  engineers  who  designed  the  bridge  claim 
that  their  figures  prove  that  this  is  the  lightest  construction  possible 
under  the  existing  conditions.  The  quality  of  the  steel  used  is  un- 
surpassed in  any  bridge  up  to  this  date.  The  nickel-steel  eye-bars 
have  an  ultimate  strength  of  90,000  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  and 
an  elastic  limit  of  54,000  pounds  to  the  inch.  This  steel  is  probably 
twice  the  strength  of  that  used  in  the  Forth  bridge.  The  design 
calls  for  ability  to  carry  12,600  pounds  of  live  load  per  lineal  foot, 
this  being  the  estimated  extreme  strain  that  can  be  applied  at  a  time 
of  congested  traffic.  The  width  of  the  structure  from  the  centre 
of  the  side  members  is  sixty  feet,  giving  an  interior  roadway  of 
fifty-five  feet.  Since  there  is  a  double  deck  and  outside  car-tracks, 
the  total  roadway  is  perhaps  a  little  greater  than  that  of  the  Wil- 
liamsburg bridge,  giving  it  the  greatest  transporting  capacity  of 
any  bridge  in  the  world.  There  are  six  car-tracks  in  all,  and  a  road- 
way of  thirty-six  feet  and  two  footways  of  eleven  feet  each.  These 
footways  have  a  supporting  strength  of  several  hundred  pounds  per 
square  foot,  and  the  grade  is  three  and  a  third  feet  in  each  100  feet. 

A  comparison  of  the  towers  of  these  bridges  between  New 
York  and  Brooklyn  affords  a  good  illustration  of  the  advances  made 
in  construction,  the  towers  of  the  later  bridges  being  both  lighter 
and  stronger  than  the  earlier  ones.  The  principle  of  support  in  all 
these  bridges  is  the  same,  great  steel  cables  being  anchored  deep  in 
the  ground  on  either  side  of  the  river  and  hung  over  the  tops  of 
the  towers  in  such  a  manner  that  the  roadways  are  attached  to  the 
depending  loops  or  curves.     Each  bridge  has  four  cables,  two  rest- 


BRIDGES— BIG,  LITTLE,  AND    PECULIAR 


419 


ing  on  each  tower,  and  the  strength  of  the  cables  is  estimated  to  be 
five  times  as  great  as  any  strain  to  which  they  could  possibly  be 
subjected.  These  bridges  exceed  in  general  dimensions  and  ca- 
pacity any  bridges  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  It  is  true  that  there 
are  some  longer  bridges,  but  these  have  more  numerous  piers,  so 
that  they  do  not  permit  vessels  of  any  size  to  pass  underneath.  An 
instance  is  the  iron  bridge  at  Dundee,  Scotland,  over  the  river  Tay, 
which  is  10,612  feet  in  length,  but  has  continuous  supports,  and  cost 
less  than  $2,000,000.     It  is  just  fifty-two  feet  longer  than  the  bridge 


Courtesy  Scieautic  American. 

Spiral  Approach  to  High  Bridge,  Hastings,  Minnesota. 


over  the  Ohio  River  at  Cairo,  111.  This  latter  bridge  has  fifty  spans, 
and  21,000,000  pounds  of  steel  were  used  in  its  construction,  besides 
32,000  cubic  yards  of  masonry. 

Sometimes  the  peculiarities  of  a  location-  induce  the  building 
of  an  engineering  oddity  in  connection  with  a  bridge.  A  case  in 
point  is  shown  in  the  illustration  of  the  bridge  across  the  Missis- 
sippi at  Hastings,  Minnesota.  The  conditions  were  that  this  bridge 
should  be  placed  seventy-five  feet  above  low-water  mark,  and  as 
this  necessitated  a  long  raise  in  the  approach,  and  it  was  desirable  to 
bring  the  approach  close  to  one  end  of  the  bridge,  the  idea  of  a  spiral 
roadway  suggested  itself  to  John  C.  Meloy,  who  donated  the  ground 
for  this  curious  structure.  The  spiral  is  a  complete  success,  and  is 
used  continually  by  heavy  teams  that  find  the  grade  an  easy  one. 


420 


MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 


This  is  the  only  free  bridge  between  St.  Paul  and  Dubuque,  Iowa, 
and  was  completed  in  1895. 

Other  notable  bridges  in  the  United  States  are  at  Memphis, 
Tennessee,  where  there  is  a  cantilever  bridge  whose  longest  span 
is  720  feet;  the  Bismarck  bridge  over  the  Missouri  at  Bismarck, 
North  Dakota,  having  three  spans  of  400  feet  each;  the  Niagara 
cantilever  bridge,  having  cantilevers  395  feet  long;  the  Schuylkill 
arch-truss  bridge,  having  a  single  span  of  340  feet,  which  was 
probably  the  longest  at  the  date  it  was  built  in  181 2;  the  Wash- 
ington JDridge  over  the  Harlem  River  at  New  York,  having  a  total 


Washington  Bridge,  New  York. 

length  of  2380  feet;  the  Cincinnati  bridge  over  the  Ohio,  having 
a  main  span  of  1067  feet;  the  Poughkeepsie  bridge  across  the 
Hudson,  which  is  3094  feet  long  and  has  three  spans,  the  longest 
of  which  is  548  feet ;  and  the  three-tower  suspension  bridge  at 
Easton,  Pennsylvania,  built  over  the  Lehigh  River  in  1901. 

Stone  arch  bridges  are  quite  as  remarkable  in  their  way  as 
the  steel  suspension  bridges,  although  their  spans  are  necessarily 
shorter.  The  longest  single  span  built  of  solid  masonry  is  over 
the  Petrusse  River,  in  Luxemburg,  Germany,  this  bridge  being 
opened  in  1903.  The  arch  is  2753^  feet  inside  measurement,  and 
the  roadway  is  145  feet  above  the  water,  the  river  being  a  small 


BRIDGES— BIG,  LITTLE,  AND    PECULIAR 


421 


Stream  running  in  a  gorge.  Nearly  800,000  cubic  feet  of  masonry 
are  used  in  the  structure,  and  the  cost  is  about  $275,000.  The 
longest  masonry  arch  in  United  States  is  that  of  the  Cabin  John 
bridge,  near  Washington,  D.  C,  which  has  an  arch  220  feet  long, 
leaving  a  clear  space  below  of  fifty-seven  feet.  Over  the  river  Pruth 
in  Galicia  is  a  railway  bridge  having  a  single  stone  arch  of  213I/4 
feet.    It  is  constructed  of  sandstone  and  cost  only  $40,000. 

London  has  no  very  remarkable  bridges,  because  the  Thames  is 
not  a  wide  river.  The  most  conspicuous  is  the  tower  bridge,  which  is 
2640  feet  long  and  has  a  roadway  sixty  feet  wide.  The  longest 
span  is  270  feet,  and  the  height  above  tide-water  only  29^/2  feet. 
In  the  central  span  is  a  lifting  draw,  somewhat  similar  to  that 
described  farther  on  in  this  chapter. 

The  problem  of  providing  room  for  vessels  to  pass  through 


Victoria  Tubular  Bridge,  Montreal,  Canada. 

under  a  bridge  is  always  a  troublesome  one  for  the  engineer.  To 
build  the  bridge  high  enough  to  allow  large  vessels  to  pass  under- 
neath is  usually  prohibited  by  the  expense  involved,  and  it  becomes 
necessary  to  devise  some  form  of  draw  or  opening  for  the  passage 
of  vessels.  The  old-fashioned  draw  was,  as  its  name  implies,  pro- 
vided with  a  mechanism  for  drawing  back  or  apart  the  opposed 
ends  of  a  bridge.  This  was  not  adapted  to  a  long  opening,  and 
was  soon  superseded  by  the  swing-bridge,  having  a  central  span 
that  rotated,  leaving  an  opening  on  either  side. 

This  has  been  the  commonest  method,  but  bids  fair  to  give 
way  before  the  rolling  lift  or  bascule  bridge.  This  was  invented 
by  William  Scherer,  who  constructed  two  bridges  on  this  principle 
in  Chicago.     The  construction  and  operation  of  this  bridge  will  be 


422 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


understood  more  easily  from  the  illustration  than  from  any  printed 
description.     The  halves  are  heavily  counterbalanced  on  the  shore 


ends,  so  that  they  can  be  elevated  by  a  rolling  movement,  that  is  not 
only  quick  of  operation  but  requires  small  power  and  leaves  the 


BRIDGES— BIG,  LITTLE,  AND    PECULIAR 


423 


river  entirely  clear  of  obstructions.  This  type  of  bridge  has  an- 
other advantage  in  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  car  or  vehicle  to  run 
into  the  open  draw,  as  the  bridge  itself  forms  a  positive  stop,  as 
well  as  a  conspicuous  signal  to  any  approaching  train.  Electric 
power  is  now  being  used  to  operate  these  rolling-lift  bridges,  and 
the  ease  with  which  they  can  be  lifted  or  opened  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  large  bridge  at  Boston,  having  double-track  spans, 
employs  only  a  fifty  horse-power  motor  for  lifting  each  half,  and 
the  bridge  can  be  opened  or  closed  in  thirty  seconds.  The  Rush 
Street  bridge  in  Chicago  is  opened  forty  times  a  day  on  an  average, 


Modern  Steel  Trestle  Uiidge,  Japan. 

using  electric  power  that  costs  on  an  average  sixty-seven  cents  per 
day. 

One  of  the  most  singular  bridges  of  the  world  is  that  known 
as  the  ferry-bridge  at  Bizerta,  on  the  Mediterranean.  This  bridge 
has  steel  towers  and  a  crossway  that  would  serve  as  ordinary  road- 
way were  it  not  that  it  has  no  approaches,  and  is  148  feet  above  the 
water.  The  method  of  crossing  is  by  a  suspended  car  that  consti- 
tutes a  ferry.  This  being  hung  by  steel  ropes,  attached  to  a  wheeled 
carrier  on  the  crossway,  is  run  over  the  channel,  skimming  about 
a  foot  above  the  water.  A  fifteen-horse-power  steam-engine,  having 
a  drum  and  a  steel  cable,  draws  the  carriage  back  and  forth  across 


424 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


the  water,  thus  operating  the  ferry.  This  structure  was  completed 
in  1898  at  a  cost  of  $112,000.  There  is  a  somewhat  similar  ferry 
bridge  at  Bilboa,  Spain. 

American  bridges  are  built  almost  wholly  with  a  view  to  util- 
ity; only  in  Europe  does  one  find  bridges  where  much  expense  is 
undertaken  to  add  beauty  to  the  structure.  One  of  the  most  artistic 
bridges  in  the  world  is  that  at  Bonn  across  the  Rhine.  This  bridge 
is  of  steel,  and  has  towers  set  well  out  into  the  river,  which  towers 
are  built  in  imitation  of  mediaeval  castles.  The  shore  towers  are 
also  suggestive  of  ancient  castles,  and  the  approaches  are  in  keeping 
with  this  idea.  The  main  span  of  this  bridge  is  616^  feet  long, 
the  supporting  truss  being  built  in  the  form  of  an  arch  from  which 
the  deck  or  roadway  is  supported,  forming  a  bow-string.     On  the 


Willis  Avenue  Bridge,  New  York. 


side  spans  the  arch-trusses  are  below  the  roadway.  As  this  bridge 
constitutes  a  sort  of  gateway  to  the  historic  section  of  the  Rhine, 
its  construction  is  most  creditable  to  tlie  city  of  Bonn,  which  paid 
the  bill,  and  to  the  designer,  Professor  Krohn,  who  was  assisted  by 
Professor  Schill. 

Another  beautiful  bridge  designed  by  the  same  men  is  that  at 
Diisseldorf  on  the  Rhine;  this  has  massive  portals  in  the  Renais- 
sance style  of  architecture.  In  connection  with  these  bridges  should 
be  mentioned  the  bridge  over  the  Aare  at  Berne,  Switzerland.  The 
banks  at  this  point  are  quite  high,  so  that  the  roadway  runs  on  a 
level  with  them  about  one  hundred  feet  above  the  water.  The  main 
span  is  376^  feet,  which  is  covered  by  a  graceful  steel  arch,  rising 


BRIDGES— BIG,  LITTLE,  AND    PECULIAR  425 

from  tapering  stone  towers.  The  trusses  and  railings  are  most 
ornamental,  as  well  as  the  tops  of  the  towers. 

A  typical  bridge  of  the  American  type,  constructed  with  a 
swing-draw,  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  picture  of  the  Willis 
Avenue  bridge,  over  the  Harlem  River  at  New  York.  The  crossed 
braces  afford  great  strength,  the  top  and  bottom  chords  being  of 
built-up  box  sections,  curved  to  secure  a  graceful  effect.  The  swing- 
ing span  of  this  bridge  is  310  feet  long,  and  affords  a  roadway 
forty-two  feet  wide. 

Pontoon  bridges  are  not  common,  but  there  is  one  at  Calcutta, 
built  of  iron  girders,  that  is  1530  feet  long,  and  rests  on  twenty- 
eight  pontoons ;  another  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  Wisconsin,  across  the 
Mississippi,  having  a  total  length  of  7000  feet,  part  of  which  rests 
on  an  island  and  part  on  the  pontoons.  The  Chilean  State  Railway 
bridge,  over  the  Mallen  River,  is  one  of  the  highest  in  the  world, 
its  deck  being  333  feet  above  the  river.  There  are  five  spans,  and 
the  total  length  is  1419  feet. 


THE    MACHINERY    OF    AMUSEMENT 

The  production  of  mechanisms  for  the  amusement  of  the  pub- 
lic is  not  usually  classed  as  an  industry,  yet  it  is  an  important  one 
in  its  way,  providing  occupations  for  genius  of  varied  kinds.  From 
a  "  loop-the-loop"  contrivance  to  an  automatic  chess-player  is  a 
considerable  distance,  hence  the  invention  and  construction  of  the 
mechanisms  that  we  are  now  classing  together  are  wrought  out  by 
men  who  are  usually  far  removed  from  each  other,  and  have  little 
knowledge  of  each  other's  methods. 


"•>.?*^  •*  i  1  r 


"^ 


f>, 


Courtesy  Munn  &  C^ 


The  Droz  Automatons. 


Away  back  in  the  eighteenth  century  there  was  a  craze  for 
puppets  or  marionettes,  and  Jacquet  Droz  and  his  son  of  the  same 
name  constructed  a  number  of  these  human  automatons,  which  they 
termed  androids,  and  which  were  exhibited  in  Paris,  London,  and 
other  cities,  creating  general  astonishment,  being  the  most  perfect 
of  their  time.  One  was  known  as  the  "  writer,"  another  as  the 
"  draughtsman,"  and  a  third  as  the  "  musician."  The  "  writer" 
was  the  figure  of  a  child,  of  perhaps  six  years,  sitting  on  a  little  stool 
at  a  desk.     She  handled  a  quill  pen  like  a  human  being,  taking  it 

426 


,     THE    MACHINERY    OF   AMUSEMENT  427 

in  the  right  hand,  dipping  it  in  the  ink,  squirting  out  the  superfluous 
ink,  moving  the  head  and  eyes  shghtly  while  writing,  and  producing 
short  sentences  with  carefuhy  shaded  down-strokes,  in  the  fashion 
then  prevaihng.  Any  short  sentence  could  be  written,  but  the  man 
in  charge  had  to  set  the  mechanism  for  the  sentence  in  advance, 
this  work  occupying  about  two  hours. 

The  operating  mechanism  was  inside,  the  power  being  fur- 
nished by  a  long  string,  wound  up  on  a  drum.  The  motions  of  the 
pen  were  controlled  by  120  little  disk-cams,  each  designed  to  form  a 
particular  letter  when  brought  into  play.  These  cams  being  set  in 
the  proper  order  and  position  would  produce  the  appropriate  sen- 
tence. 

The  "  draughtsman"  also  worked  with  a  pen,  and  drew  one 
of  a  certain  series  of  pictures.  When  exhibited  before  Louis  XV. 
he  drew  the  king's  portrait,  which  so  pleased  his  majesty  that 
Jacquet  Droz  was  decorated  with  an  order.  Before  George  III. 
the  "  draughtsman"  sketched  both  the  king  and  Queen  Charlotte. 
While  making  the  drawings  the  figure  would  pause  at  times,  throw 
back  his  head  as  if  studying  the  work,  blow  away  real  or  imaginary 
dust  from  the  picture,  and  generally  conduct  himself  in  a  life-like 
manner. 

The  "  musician"  was  an  android  having  the  figure  of  a  young 
girl  of  perhaps  thirteen,  seated  at  the  clavinos,  the  equivalent  of 
the  modern  piano.  She  fingered  the  keys  by  pressure,  as  would  a 
person,  and  made  a  number  of  appropriate  and  graceful  gestures. 
Her  mechanism  could  be  adjusted  to  play  several  different  tunes. 

These  remarkable  puppet  mechanisms  are  still  in  existence, 
being  in  the  custody  of  Henri  Martin,  of  Dresden,  Germany.  They 
have  never  been  surpassed  by  anything  of  their  kind. 

About  forty  years  ago  P.  T.  Barnum  exhibited  through  the 
United  States  a  talking-machine  that  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $20,000, 
and  which,  by  blowing  air  through  variously  adjusted  passages, 
formed  words  and  sentences  that  came  from  the  head  of  a  figure 
after  the  manner  of  the  human  voice.  As  a  piece  of  mechanism  this 
was  marvellous,  though  eclipsed  by  Edison's  phonograph,  which 
talks  better  by  much  simpler  means,  and  the  talking  casts,  described 
in  the  chapter  "  The  Wonderful  Instruments  of  Science." 

The  automaton  chess-player  has  delighted  thousands  at  the 
Eden  Musee  in  New  York  and  elsewhere.  A  cross-legged  Turk 
sitting  at  a  chess-board  is  the  usual  figure.  He  will  play  chess  or 
checkers  with  all  comers  for  a  small  sum,  handling  the  pieces  cor- 
rectly, and  winning  the  games  with  painful  regularity.     A  window 


428 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


in  the  chest  of  the  figure  is  opened  to  convince  the  sceptical  that  no 
person  is  concealed  inside,  yet  there  is  a  man  inside,  a  player  of 
skill,  who  swings  the  arm  that  moves  the  pieces.     The  mechanism 


Courtesy  Munn  & 


iipany. 

Mechanism  of  the 


'  Writer." 


was  patented  many  years  ago,  and  the  curious  by  looking  up  the 
record  can  see  just  how  it  works.  The  man  must  be  slight,  and  he 
sits  down  low  in  the  figure,  looking  out  through  the  window  in  the 


THE    MACHINERY    OF   AMUSEMENT 


429 


chest.  When  the  attendant  prepares  to  open  the  window  so  that  the 
bystanders  may  look  right  through  the  figure,  the  player  drops  down 
into  the  base  out  of  sight. 

The  acme  of  puppetry  was  attained  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of 
1900,  where  the  Guillaume  puppet  theatre  was  a  star  attraction. 
Upon  a  miniature  stage  a  number  of  entertainments  were  given, 
all  the  characters  being  puppets  or  marionettes,  of  which  there  were 


The  Puppet  Theatre. 

I,  The  revolving  stage,  mounted  on  a  drum;  2,  mode  of  suspending  a  puppet  ;  3,  puppet,  dotted 
lines  showing  interior  mechanism;  4,  automatic  marching  of  soldiers;  5,  showing  the  carrying 
chain  and  its  fastening. 

more  than  four  thousand  used  in  the  different  scenes  represented. 
Companies  of  soldiers  were  marched  across  the  stage  and  made 
to  go  through  a  variety  of  evolutions,  and  troops  of  cavalry  gal- 
loped back  and  forth  with  a  naturalness  of  motion  that  v\^as  the  won- 
der of  wonders  to  onlookers.  Spectacular  scenes  from  well-known 
plays  were  given,  and  humorous  and  clownish  performances — in  all 
a  variety  creditable  to  any  theatre.  Four  set  scenes  were  used,  the 
time  of  scene-shifting  being  saved  by  mounting  them  in  the  four 


430  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

quarters  of  an  upright  drum.  (See  illustration.)  At  the  end  of 
an  act  the  drum  was  given  a  turn,  and  an  entire  new  scene  was 
ready. 

The  puppets  for  a  particular  piece  were  set  on  shelves  below 
the  stage,  and  several  attendants  standing  below,  out  of  sight  of 
the  spectators,  would  guide  the  puppets  to  their  positions  on  the 
stage  by  means  of  rods  extending  below  their  legs,  so  that  they 
appeared  to  walk  on  of  their  own  volition.  The  motions  of  a  num- 
ber of  puppets  could  be  controlled  from  below  by  one  man  oper- 
ating a  set  of  keys,  and  at  the  same  time  he  could  speak  their  parts 
after  the  fashion  of  a  ventriloquist.  The  stage  had  all  sorts  of 
modern  accessories,  so  that  the  performances  were  highly  realistic. 

The  mechanism  of  the  stage  possesses  nothing  more  interesting 
than  the  contrivances  used  to  deceive  the  public  in  feats  of  prestidigi- 
tation or  legerdemain.  The  old  sphinx  trick  was  one  of  the  best 
of  these  in  its  day,  but  is  now  so  well  known  that  it  has  ceased  to 
be  presented.  A  live  human  head  was  shown  on  a  plate  set  on  top 
in  the  centre  of  a  little  three-legged  table.  As  the  spectators  could 
see  under  the  table  and  all  around  it,  there  was  no  accounting  for 
the  activity  of  the  head  until  the  means  were  made  known.  The 
stage  was  draped  all  in  one  color,  as  green;  the  table  was  set  wnth 
one  of  its  three  legs  directly  towards  the  audience,  and  underneath 
it  a  man  sat  comfortably  on  a  stool,  hidden  from  view  by  two  mir- 
rors set  between  the  legs.  These  mirrors  reflected  the  green  sur- 
roundings, and  the  onlookers  thought  they  saw  through  under  the 
table  to  the  green  hangings  in  the  rear.  The  plate  and  table,  of 
course,  had  holes  for  the  reception  of  the  man's  neck. 

Quite  as  simple,  but  less  known  now,  because  older,  was  the 
ghost  trick,  played  successfully  in  Paris  about  a  century  ago  by 
Houdin.  The  audience  saw  a  cavalier  walking  about  in  a  troubled 
way,  and  shortly  a  typical  ethereal  ghost  appeared  and  began  to 
mock  him.  The  cavalier  drew  his  sword  and  rushed  at  the  ghost, 
but  walked  right  through  him.  Again  and  again  he  endeavored 
to  slay  the  ghostly  visitant,  with  the  same  result,  and  finally  the 
cavalier  withdrew,  seemingly  tired  out  and  frightened,  while  the 
ghost  held  the  stage  at  the  curtain-fall.  This  effect  was  produced 
by  placing  a  very  large  plate  of  clear  glass  nearly  upright  at  the 
front  of  the  stage.  Beneath  the  real  stage  was  a  duplicate  stage  out 
of  sight  of  the  audience.  On  this  walked  the  ghost,  his  figure  illu- 
mined by  a  following  light.  The  glass  caught  the  reflection  of  the 
illumined  ghost  and  made  him  appear  to  the  audience  as  if  tread- 
ing the  boards  of  the  real  stage.     The  cavalier  walked  about  on  the 


THE    MACHINERY    OF   AMUSEMENT 


431 


real  stage  back  of  the  glass,  and  when  he  appeared  to  make  a  pass 
of  his  sword  through  the  ghost,  it  really  only  passed  back  of  the 
reflection  of  the  ghost.  Both  stages  were  covered  with  elaborate 
chalk-marks,  so  that  the  cavalier  and  ghost  should  march  about  in 
the  proper  positions  in  relation  to  each  other,  for  neither  could  see 
the  other,  the  audience  being  the  only  ones  in  a  position  to  com- 
bine the  two  figures.  The  principle  involved  in  this  trick  has  been 
used  in  a  variety  of  ways  to  produce  illusions,  and  is  used  to  this 
day. 

The  floating  lady  is  a  trick  that  has  mystified  thousands,  and 
that  never  fails  to  please  spectators.  It  has  been  performed  in  two 
ways  to  the  writer's  knowledge,  and  perhaps  in  more.  In  the  first 
way,  the  lady,  dressed  usually  as  a  fairy,  steps  up  on  a  little  plat- 
form, on  top  of  a  low  stool,  and  with  either  elbow  resting  on  an 
upright  bar  or  stick,  placed  under  as  a  prop.  The  stage  magician 
comes  along  and  kicks  away  the  stool,  when  the  lady  appears  to 
support  herself  by  her  elbows  on  the  ends  of  the  sticks,  with  her 
feet  perhaps  eight  inches  above  the  ground.  The  magician  makes 
a  few  passes,  and  then  takes  away  one  of  the  sticks.  This  fails 
to  upset  the  lady,  who  calmly  rests  on  one  elbow  only,  touching 
nothing  else.  The  magician  about  this  time  kindly  mesmerizes  her, 
under  pretence  of  relieving  the  tension  on  her  muscles,  or  for  some 
other  excuse,  and  raises  her  to  a  horizontal  position,  where  she  stays 
and  floats,  connected  with  the  stage  floor  only  by  the  one  upright 
stick  to  her  outstretched  elbow.  There,  in  apparent  contradiction 
to  the  laws  of  gravitation,  the  lady  is  posed  in  various  positions,  and 
finally  returned  to  terra  firma  by  a  reverse  of  the  actions  by  which  she 
was  elevated. 

In  performing  the  above  trick,  one  of  the  sticks  that  supports 
the  lady's  elbow  is  really  a  steel  tube.  Inside  the  lady's  dress  is  a 
steel  frame-work  that  is  connected  up  one  arm  as  far  as  the  elbow. 
When  her  elbow  rests  on  the  tube,  it  is  bolted  firmly  to  its  top,  while 
the  lower  end  of  the  tube  sinks  a  short  distance  into  an  invisible 
hole  in  the  platform.  Thus  the  tube  and  the  steel  frame-work  do 
the  supporting  when  the  stool  and  the  other  stick  are  taken  away. 

The  second  method  of  exhibiting  the  floating  lady  is  operated 
on  a  newer  and  better  principle,  as  illustrated  in  the  accompanying 
drawings.  The  lady  is  first  put  to  sleep  in  a  chair,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  balanced,  but  which  is  held  securely  by  a  steel  rod  run 
through  the  stage  floor  and  up  one  leg.  She  is  next  laid  on  a 
couch,  which  opens  towards  the  spectators,  so  that  they  can  see 
under  it  and  into  it.     The  live  lady  is  placed  on  the  couch  at  the 


The  Floating  Lady  Trick. 
A,  As  viewed   by  the  spectators;    B,  as   it   really  is.    i,  The  live  woman;   2,  the  rubber  doll; 
3,  double  false  back;    4,  front,  "let   down;"   5,  false  bottom;   6,  steel   supporting  rod,  looped  to 
sustain  the  doll. 


,  THE    MACHINERY    OF    AMUSEMENT  433 

front  side  F,  while  in  the  rear  at  A,  out  of  sight,  is  a  dummy  that 
looks  just  like  her,  but  is  really  an  India  rubber  doll,  weighing 
perhaps  ten  pounds.  The  magician  closes  up  the  lady  in  the  casket 
and  steps  to  the  rear,  where  he  appears  to  pick  the  lady  out  of  the 
casket  and  leave  her  in  mid-air,  while  he  passes  hoops  around  her 
to  prove  that  there  are  no  supports.  What  he  really  does  is  to  pick 
up  the  doll  that  resembles  the  lady,  and  as  he  picks  up  the  doll  he 
also  pulls  up  a  black  wire  rod,  smaller  than  it  appears  in  the  pic- 
ture, and  which  is  invisible  to  the  spectators  because  it  is  against 
the  background  of  his  black  clothes.  Having  thoroughly  misled  the 
onlookers,  he  restores  the  doll  to  the  hidden  shelf,  lets  out  the  lady, 
and  awakens  her  to  receive  the  plaudits  of  the  multitude. 

The  disappearing  lady  is  an  equally  clever  trick.  The  stage 
magician  announces  that  the  lady  will  disappear  from  the  stage  in 
full  sight  of  the  audience,  and  that  none  may  think  she  goes  down 
through  the  floor,  he  spreads  a  newspaper  on  the  stage,  and  on  this 
a  chair.  Then  the  lady  is  seated  on  the  chair,  put  to  sleep  in  the 
most  approved  mesmeric  style,  and  a  large  sheet  thrown  over  her, 
entirely  concealing  her  from  view.  The  magician  makes  sundry 
passes,  and  utters  an  incantation,  then  suddenly  removes  the  sheet 
and  throws  it  on  the  stage  floor.  There  are  the  chair  and  the  news- 
paper but  no  lady.  It  looks  impossible,  but  the  explanation  is  sim- 
plicity itself.  There  is  a  trap  in  the  stage  floor;  the  newspaper  is 
not  what  it  seems,  but  a  rubber  blanket,  on  which  a  newspaper  is 
pasted.  The  blanket  and  paper  are  slit  through  in  the  form  of  an 
X,  but  a  piece  of  paper  pasted  on  the  back  closes  the  opening,  so 
that  it  looks  like  an  unbroken  newspaper.  The  chair  is  set  carefully 
over  the  X  opening,  and  this  over  the  trap-door.  When  the  sheet 
is  over  the  girl  and  all  ready  for  her  to  disappear,  she  doubles  up 
and  drops  through  the  hinged  bottom  of  the  chair,  through  the  X 
in  the  rubber  blanket,  and  through  the  trap-door  into  a  net  below 
the  stage. 

Of  course,  the  girl  must  be  slight  and  something  of  a  contor- 
tionist, as  her  feet  and  head  go  through  the  chair  together.  The 
sheet  is  supported  temporarily  after  the  girl  drops  out  by  light  wires 
that  fold  up  with  it,  so  that  Avires  and  sheet  can  be  flung  together 
flat  on  the  stage.  The  hinged  bottom  of  the  chair  returns  to  place 
by  means  of  a  spring,  and  when  the  trap-door  is  closed,  the  rubber- 
backed  newspaper  appears  as  intact  as  ever. 

Illusions  based  on  the  principles  here  described  are  exhibited 
every  day  in  theatres.  When  a  portion  of  the  public  becomes  famil- 
iar with  them  in  one  form,  they  are  changed  as  far  as  the  effects  are 

28 


434 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


concerned,  though  the  basic  principles  are  the  same.  People  who 
read  descriptions  mostly  half-understand  them  and  afterwards  for- 
get ;   then,  as  Barnum  said,  the  public  likes  to  be  fooled. 

The  mechanism  of  a  good  theatre   stage   is   quite  elaborate. 
There  are  trap-doors  in  the  floor,  and  slides  for  the  scenes,  and 


The  Disappearing  Lady. 

electric  lights  at  various  points,  all  arranged  to  be  controlled  from 
one  station.  Then  there  is  the  thunder-making  machine,  that  rat- 
tles sheet-iron ;  the  tumble-box  full  of  old  iron  and  crockery,  to 
imitate  the  effect  of  throwing  the  villain  downstairs  or  out  of  the 
window;  the  snowing-machine,  that  drops  bits  of  small  paper  over 
the  poor,  begging  blind  girl    (usually  dressed  in  rags  and  high- 


THE    MACHINERY    OF    AMUSEMENT 


435 


heeled  slippers).  Every  spectacular  play  requires  a  lot  of  special 
machinery,  as  for  operating  a  rocking  raft,  a  falling  building,  or 
something  of  the  sort.  These  are  designed  by  skilful  mechanics, 
who  make  a  business  of  that  sort,  and  are  prepared  to  produce  any- 
thing a  playwright  desires. 

The  Covent  Garden  Opera  House  is  one  of  the  best  equipped 
theatres  in  England.  During  a  recent  summer  its  stage  was  entirely 
torn  out  and  reconstructed  with  modern  bridge  machinery.     These 


'l  , 

i 

X 

•/ 

! 

i                i 

Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


The  Circle  of  Death. 


bridges  or  sections  of  the  stage  are  six  in  nunlber,  and  when  set  in 
simple  position  constitute  the  usual  stage  floor  as  inclined  towards 
the  audience.  The  front  section  is  stationary,  but  each  of  the  other 
sections  is  made  in  the  form  of  a  trussed-steel  bridge,  and  is  mova- 
ble in  any  direction.  These  sections  or  bridges  are  eight  feet  wide 
and  forty  feet  in  length,  and  can  be  raised  nine  feet  above  the  stage 
level  or  dropped  eight  feet  below  it.  They  are  counterbalanced  like 
elevators,  and  each  is  calculated  to  carry  at  least  two  tons  of  live 
weight.  This  arrangement  of  the  stage  floor  makes  it  easy  to  pro- 
duce all  sorts  of  scenic  effects  in  quick  time,  and  without  any  of 


436  MODERN   INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

the  danger  that  comes  to  the  actors  where  Hght  and  quickly  built 
wooden  scaffolding  is  employed  for  stage  structures. 

The  loop-the-loop  exhibit  is  based  on  a  mechanical  toy,  familiar 
to  every  engineer,  and  might  have  been  brought  out  years  earlier 
had  anybody  supposed  that  people  would  risk  their  necks  for  the 
fun  of  turning  such  somersaults.  Various  "  improvements"  on  the 
loop-the-loop  have  been  devised,  with  the  object  of  making  the  loop- 
ing more  dangerous  and  spectacular  One  of  these  is  the  "  circle 
of  death"  here  illustrated.  The  trick  of  shooting  a  woman  out 
of  a  cannon  is  not  what  it  appears,  as  the  woman  is  really  thrown 
up  into  the  net  by  a  powerful  spring  mechanism  that  is  certain  to 
throw  her  the  same  distance  every  time.  The  explosion  of  a  little 
gunpowder  at  the  instant  of  releasing  the  spring,  gives  the  effect 
of  firing  her  out  of  the  cannon,  which  would  be  highly  dangerous 
if  not  certainly  disastrous. 

A  very  simple  but  amusing  recreation  is  furnished  frequenters 
of  the  Jardin  d'Acclimatation,  in  Paris,  where  a  dragon-like  sea- 
serpent  wanders  through  the  grounds,  giving  a  ride  for  a  small 
sum  to  those  who  choose  to  seat  themselves  on  his  sides.  As  shown 
in  the  illustrations,  this  is  simply  a  little  railway  train,  operated  by 
a  storage  battery,  and  having  an  engineer  inside  the  head,  peeping 
out  to  see  that  he  does  not  run  over  people. 

The  kinetoscopic  pictures,  cinematographic  or  moving  pic- 
tures, as  they  are  variously  called,  afford  almost  infinite  opportunity 
for  the  display  of  tricks  that  could  not  possibly  be  rendered  as  they 
appear.  In  order  to  understand  how  these  trick  pictures  are  pro- 
duced, the  reader  should  first  grasp  the  method  by  which  the  moving 
pictures  are  made.  Let  us  suppose  that  a  stage  dance  is  to  be 
reproduced  in  moving  pictures.  A  photographic  machine  is  set  up 
during  the  dance,  which  takes  instantaneous  pictures  at  the  rate  of 
forty-six  a  second  on  a  strip  of  sensitized  photographic  film,  per- 
haps half  an  inch  wide  and  half  a  mile  long.  To  do  this  the  film 
has  to  be  stopped  and  started  forty-six  times  in  the  second — a 
process  far  too  intricate  for  the  eye  to  follow;  in  fact,  the  speed 
of  forty-six  a  second  was  chosen  because  it  was  found  that  the 
human  eye  could  not  detect  these  small  fractions  of  change,  owing 
to  what  is  termed  the  persistence  of  vision.  The  film  being  made, 
it  can  then  be  run  through  an  exhibiting-machine,  which  is  some- 
what like  the  old-fashioned  magic  lantern,  with  a  device  for  stop- 
ping and  starting  the  pictures  every  forty-sixth  of  a  second.  These 
pictures  being  thrown  on  a  screen  and  enlarged  give  the  effect  as 
if  the  real  scene  were  under  view,  except  that  the  colors  are  want- 


THE    MACHINERY    OF    AMUSEMENT 


437 


ing,  and  that  there  is  a  slight  tremor  owing  to  the  vibration  of  the 
film  in  being  stopped  and  started  at  so  rapid  a  rate. 

These  being  the  conditions,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  one  has  only 
to  cut  out  a  series  of  pictures  from  the  film  to  secure  some  omission 


■wAft 


from  what  really  took  place  in  the  scene  photographed,  and  the 
tricksters  take  advantage  of  this  to  secure  novel  results.  Take  the 
human  incubator  trick,  for  instance.     A  man  appears  standing  be- 


438 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


fore  a  table,  bearing  a  plate  and  half  a  dozen  eggs.  He  picks  up  an 
Qgg,  breaks  it  up  in  the  air,  and  allows  the  contents  to  fall  to  the 
plate;   just  as  they  strike  the  plate  they  are  transformed  into  a  live 


chicken,  which  toddles  off.  This  is  repeated  with  all  the  eggs  until 
there  are  six  chicks  running  about  the  table.  Then  the  man  holds 
the  last  shell  above  the  plate,  and  a  chick  runs  into  it,  and  the  egg 
is  closed  and  put  back  on  the  plate,  and  so  on  until  all  the  chicks 


THE   MACHINERY   OF   AMUSEMENT 


439 


are  back  in  their  shells,  and  there  is  nothing  left  but  a  bowing  man 
and  six  eggs  on  the  plate. 

In  producing  this  series  of  trick  pictures  the  man  while  being 
photographed  stands  before  the  plate  of  eggs,  breaks  one  into  the 
plate,  then  picks  a  little  chicken  out  of  a  basket  near  by,  and  sets 
it  on  the  plate,  and  it  naturally  toddles  off.  As  he  breaks  each  egg, 
he  picks  up  a  chick.  A  series  of  pictures  having  been  produced  by 
this  performance,  it  is  only  necessary  to  cut  out  those  pictures  that 
show  the  man  reaching  after  the  chicks  and  putting  them  on  the 
plate.  The  strip  of  pictures  for  exhibition  purposes  is  pasted  to- 
gether with  these  omissions,  and  the  spectators  see  the  scene  as  first 
described.  The  putting  of  the  chicks  back  into  the  eggs  is  accom- 
plished by  running  the  strip  of  photograpic  films  backwards  through 
the  exhibiting-machine. 

"  Dr.  Sawbone's  Busy  Day"  is  another  product  of  the  trick- 
picturist,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  coin  a  term.  A  man  with  two 
wooden  legs  enters  the  doctor's  ofiice,  the  doctor  unscrews  them, 
takes  a  couple  of  good  legs  out  of  a  closet,  and  puts  them  on  the 
cripple,  who  dances  in  glee ;  but  his  dance  is  short,  for  the  doctor 
grabs  him,  throws  him  over  a  table,  and  with  a  meat-saw  neatly 
severs  his  head  from  his  body,  throws  the  head  in  the  corner,  and 
takes  another  head  from  a  closet  and  substitutes  it.  The  cripple- 
that-was  gets  up,  shakes  himself,  looks  in  the  glass,  is  staggered  at 
his  appearance,  and  makes  off. 

The  solution  of  this  is  that  in  taking  the  photograph  at  the 
time  the  legs  are  applied  to  the  cripple,  the  real  cripple  walks  out 
and  a  man  with  two  good  legs,  but  resembling  him,  takes  his  place. 
Just  before  the  head  is  sawed  off,  a  dummy  is  substituted  for  the 
man,  and  after  the  head  is  on  again,  a  man  with  a  similar  head 
takes  the  place  of  the  dummy.  When  the  parts  of  the  string  of 
pictures  that  give  away  the  trick  are  cut  out,  it  is  ready  for  pro- 
duction. 

A  more  exciting  trick-picture  is  that  of  the  tramp  who  settles 
himself  on  a  railway  track,  drinks  till  he  is  dead  drunk,  and  lies  on 
the  track,  until  an  express  comes  along  and  knocks  him  into  frag- 
ments. This  never  fails  to  send  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  spec- 
tators, which  turns  into  a  laugh  later  when  the  men  who  are  carry- 
ing away  the  remains  on  a  stretcher,  stumble  and  fall,  while  the 
"  remains"  jump  up  and  run  away  laughing. 

Of  course,  this  series  of  pictures  is  produced  in  the  same  way 
as  the  previous,  the  man  representing  the  drunken  tramp  getting 
up  and  putting  a  dummy  in  his  place  before  the  train  comes  along. 


440 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


and  taking  the  place  of  the  mangled  dummy  later  at  the  revivifi- 
cation. 

One  of  the  latest  and  most  interesting  of  moving-picture  ex- 
hibits does  not  owe  its  existence  to  any  trick,  but  to  the  skill  of 
photographers  in  securing  good  photographs  of  microscopic  sub- 
jects, that  will  bear  magnifying  and  displaying  on  a  screen.  These 
are  called  moving  microphotographs,  and  are  used  to  exhibit  the 
lives  of  bees  in  hives ;  the  conditions  within  a  drop  of  river-water, 
showing  its  flora;  the  circulation  of  blood  in  a  frog's  foot;  the 
mites  in  a  cheese,  and  the  like. 

Much  more  might  be  written  about  the  machinery  of  amuse- 
ment, but  this  seems  enough  to  afiford  an  insight  behind  the  scenes, 
and  for  a  wider  knowledge  of  the  subject  the  reader  is  referred  to 
the  mechanicians  of  the  stage. 


HOW    MONEY    IS    MANUFACTURED 

The  making  of  money  by  the  governments  of  the  globe  con- 
stitutes no  inconsiderable  industr)^,  employing  many  highly  skilled 
men.  The  manufacture  by  private  individuals — in  other  words, 
counterfeiting — also  requires  skill  in  a  way,  and  keeps  busy  a  por- 
tion of  the  Secret  Service  in  discouraging  the  practice.  United 
States  coin  is  minted  principally  in  Philadelphia,  what  is  called  the 
new  Mint  being  located  on  Spring  Garden  Street.  The  gold  and 
silver  are  obtained  as  bullion — that  is,  in  bar-form — and  have  first 
to  be  assayed,  either  at  the  mine  or  one  of  the  assaying  offices,  of 
which  there  are  several.  Its  value  being  thus  accurately  determined, 
it  requires  to  be  alloyed,  or  mixed  with  ten  per  cent,  of  another 
metal,  to  give  the  coin  wearing  quality.  Copper  is  the  metal  em- 
ployed for  this  purpose,  and  after  the  gold  and  silver  are  properly 
mixed  by  melting  together  in  a  large  black-lead  crucible,  they  are 
poured  into  moulds  to  form  ingots.  These  vary  in  size  according 
to  the  size  of  coin  to  be  made  therefrom,  those  for  double  eagles 
($20  pieces)  weighing  eighty  ounces,  and  being  over  a  foot  in 
length,  and  of  the  width  of  the  coin,  and  half  an  inch  thick. 

The  ingots  are  rolled  to  harden  and  elongate  the  metal,  and 
before  the  final  rolling  they  require  to  be  annealed,  which  is  done 
by  placing  them  in  a  furnace,  where  they  are  subjected  to  a  heat  of 
1500°  F.  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  then  cooled  in  water.  After 
going  through  the  finishing-rolls  three  or  four  times,  they  are  again 
annealed  and  cut  in  two.  At  this  stage  the  metal  is  reduced  to  the 
thickness  of  the  coin  to  be  made,  and  it  is  taken  to  a  machine  that 
cuts  or  stamps  out  blank  disks  of  the  size  of  the  finished  coin.  It 
is  necessary  to  weigh  these  blanks,  to  make  sure  that  no  coins  are 
turned  out  over  or  under  weight.  Those  that  are  incorrect  go  back 
to  be  melted  over,  while  those  of  correct  weight  go  to  the  upsetting- 
machine  for  milling  the  edge.  This  machine,  working  on  half- 
dollars,  will  produce  575  a  minute,  and  other  sizes  in  proportion. 
A  man  feeds  the  coins  down  a  tube,  and  they  are  worked  up  against 
a  disk  that  rotates  them  against  the  milling  surface. 

Another  annealing  follows,  and  then  the  blanks  are  cleaned 
in  a  solution  of  sulphuric  acid  and  water  that  brightens  them.  After 
being  rinsed  in  hot  water  and  dried  in  sawdust,  they  are  ready  for 
the  stamping  or  coining  press.     This  machine  has  dies,  in  which 

.  441 


442 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


are  engraved,  in  reverse,  the  opposite  faces  of  the  coin.  The  blank 
being  inserted  and  subjected  to  a  hydrauHc  pressure  of  many  tons, 
comes  out  finished.  The  method  of  engraving  dies  is  described  in 
another  chapter.      The  stamping-press   for   ten-dollar   gold  pieces 


A  Mint  Stamping-Press.     (Showing  Mechanism  and  Motor.) 

exerts  a  pressure  of  120  tons,  and  will  turn  out  about  a  hundred 
coins  a  minute.  The  double-eagle  requires  a  pressure  of  175  tons. 
One  reason  why  counterfeiters  are  seldom  able  to  make  as  good 
coins  as  the  government  is  that  they  do  not  have  as  powerful  stamp- 
ing-presses, being  obliged  to  depend  on  light  machines,  making  up 
for  the  lack  of  pressure  by  a  longer  dwell  on  the  blank. 


HOW    MONEY    IS    MANUFACTURED 


443 


After  completion,  the  coins  require  to  be  counted  and  packed 
away.  The  more  valuable  coins  are  counted  by  handling  one  at  a 
time,  but  the  cents  are  thrown  into  a  tray  that  has  looo  depressions. 
The  counter  brushes  the  cents  around  until  he  sees  that  every  de- 
pression is  filled,  when  he  knows  that  he  has  just  $io  worth  of 
pennies.  The  government  a  few  years  since  ceased  buying  up  old 
copper  cents,  and  now  makes  a  considerable  profit  on  their  manu- 
facture. 


Annealing  Furnaces,  Philadelphia  Mint. 

The  Philadelphia  Mint  employs  the  fuel-gas  system  of  the 
American  Gas  Furnace  Company.  It  was  found  that  fuel  gas  in- 
volved a  saving  in  the  melting,  because  of  the  absence  of  ashes  that 
formerly  required  to  be  saved  and  refined  to  recover  valuable  metal, 
this  involving  heavy  expense.  The  temperature  obtained  with  the 
fuel  gas  is  also  found  to  be  more  uniform  than  that  where  coal  is 
burned.  This  gas  is  made  automatically  from  naphtha,  the  gas- 
making  plant  requiring  but  little  attention.  The  gas  is  distributed 
through  all  the  departments  of  the  Mint  in  pipes,  just  as  city  gas  is 
distributed,  but  is  purer  and  more  effective  than  the  latter,  and  is 
carried  at  a  higher  pressure.     The  annealing  furnaces  are  shown  in 


444 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


accompanying  illustration.  In  the  view  of  the  melting-room  on 
page  447  are  strips  of  silver  that  have  been  rolled  down  from  ingots. 

The  Mint  is  frequently  called  upon  to  make  assays  for  deter- 
mining the  amount  of  gold  in  bullion.  A  simple  method  of  assaying 
is  by  cupellation,  in  which  the  metal,  which  may  be  an  alloy  of  gold 
and  lead,  is  placed  in  a  porous  cup  called  a  cupel,  and  heated  in  a 
furnace  until  the  lead  is  absorbed  by  the  cupel,  and  only  the  gold 
and  silver  remain.     See  following  page. 

The  United  States  Mints  have  coined  nearly  $2,500,000,000  of 
gold  money  since  their  establishment  in  1792. 


Gas-Making  Plant  of  American  Gas-Furnace  Company,  at  Philadelphia  Mint. 

In  1870  the  output  of  silver  in  the  United  States  amounted  in 
coining  value  to  $16,000,000.  The  production  increased  steadily, 
and  in  1874,  the  year  in  which  the  trade  dollar  was  floated,  the  pro- 
duction amounted  to  $35,750,000.  The  year  1878  saw  the  passage 
of  the  Bland  bill  by  Congress  (over  the  President's  veto),  and  the 
output  of  silver  coined  amounted  to  $45,200,000.  The  record  year 
for  the  production  of  silver  was  1892,  when  the  figures  of  the  mints 
in  the  United  States  were  over  $82.000,000 ;  since  that  date  it  has 
fluctuated  in  the  sixties  and  seventies  (coining  value).  Mexico's 
production  was  greater  than  ours  in  1902  by  a  few  million,  but  no 
other  country  approached  us. 


HOW    MONEY    IS    MANUFACTURED 


445 


The  United  States  was  a  large  purchaser  of  silver  for  coining 
purposes  from  1878  to  1893.  Under  the  act  of  1873,  it  purchased 
in  two  years  over  $7,000,000  worth  of  silver  for  coining;  under 
the  act  of  1875  it  purchased  during  three  years  over  $37,000,000 
worth;  while  under  the  Bland  act  of  1878  it  purchased  in  a  little 
over  two  years  over  $308,000,000  worth  of  silver!  From  July  14, 
1890,  to  November  i,  1893,  when  the  last  purchase  of  silver  was 
made  for  manufacturing  dollars,  $156,000,000  worth  was  purchased. 
The  value  stated  in  each  case  is  the  price  paid  for  the  silver  bullion, 
and  not  the  value  as  coin,  which  would  be  very  much  larger. 


Cupelling. 

The  year  1853  saw  the  largest  production  of  gold  in  the  United 
States,  the  output  of  that  year  being  3,144,374  fine  ounces  of  the 
value  of  $65,000,000.  This  record  stood  for  a  great  many  years, 
but  was  exceeded  in  1899  and  1900.  In  1902  our  product  swelled  to 
3,870,000  fine  ounces,  of  the  value  of  over  $80,000,000.  Even  in 
this  last  year  the  mines  of  Australasia  surpassed  us  by  $1,500,000. 

Of  course,  not  all  the  gold  goes  into  money,  nor  nearly  all  the 
silver,  but  a  large  part  of  these  precious  metals  go  to  making  money, 
which  is  the  reason  why  the  figures  are  introduced  here.  The  total 
stock  of  money  in  the  world,  including  gold,  silver,  and  paper,  is 
given  in  the  following  table  covering  the  facts  as  far  as  obtainable 
up  to  1903 : 


446 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 
THE  WORLD'S    SUPPLY    OF   MONEY 


Countries. 


United  States  ..... 
Austria-Hungary  .  .  . 
Belgium  ..... 
British  Empire  : 

Australasia 

Canada  

Cape  Colony    .... 

Great  Britain  .... 

India 

South  Africa    .... 

Bulgaria 

Cuba 

Denmark 

Egypt 

Finland 

France 

Germany 

Greece 

Hayti 

Italy    

Japan 

Netherlands 

Norway 

Portugal 

Roumania 

Russia 

Servia 

South  American  States 

Spain      

Sweden .   .    .       .  •     .    . 

SwitzerlaTid 

Turkey  

Cen.  Am.  States     .    .    . 

China 

Mexico 

Siam 

Straits  Settlements    .    . 


Total 


Stock  of 
Gold. 


^1,248,000,000 

283.000,000 

16,000,000 

128,600,000 

33,800,000 

37,500,000 

548,100,000 

63,200,000 

29,200,000 

1,000,000 

2,000,000 

15,500,000 

30,000,000 

4,100,000 

947,700,000 

763,500,000 

200,000 

1,000,000 

107,700,000 

62,600,000 

21,300,000 

8,200,000 

5,300,000 

14,300,000 

746,200,000 

1,900,000 

77,600,000 

75,800,000 

17,800,000 

29,900,000 

50,000,000 

2,000,000 


8,600,000 
1,000,000 


5,382,600,000 


Stock  of 
Silver. 


1673,300,000 
81,100,000 
25,600,000 

6,100,000 

6,700,000 

1,000,000 

116,800,000 

515,800,000 

1,200,000 

4,900,000 

1,500.800 

5,900,000 

6,400,000 

600,000 

419,800,000 

207,500,000 

11,500,000 

2,300,000 

37,700,000 

30,400,000 

56,600,000 

3,500,000 

6,500,000 

800 ,000 

104,600,000 

1,700,000 

20,200,000 

173,700,000 

7,000,000 

10,700,000 

40,000,000 

7,000,000 

750,000,000 

106,000,000 

193,000,000 

242,000,000 


$3,869,300,000 


Uncovered 
Paper. 


^56,100,000 
46,600,000 
108,300,000 


Gold. 


56,900,000 


117,900,000 
32,400,000 


1,000,000 


7,800,000 


9,100,000 

158,200,000 

184,100,000 

48,700,000 

3,500,000 

171,300.000 

61,300,000 

20,800,000 

7,900,000 

63,000,000 

8,100,000 


4,300,000 

1,082,700,000 

142,900,000 

29,000,000 

20,700,000 


30,200,000 


54,000,000 
2,600,000 
4,100,000 


§2.933.500.000 


$15.64 
6.01 
239 

23-38 
6.26 
1562 
13.18 
.21 

24-33 
.27 

1-25 

5-96 
3.06 

1-52 

24.36 
13-54 
.08 
1. 00 
3-31 
1-31 
4.02 

3-73 


5-70 
.76 
2.00 
4.08 
3-42 
9.06 


•63 
.16 


Per  Capita. 


4.19 


Silver. 


58.44 
1.72 
3.82 

I. II 

1.24 

.42 

2.80 

1-75 

1.00 

.78 

•94 

2.27 

-65 

.22 

10.79 

3-68 

•63 

2.20 

1.16 

.64 

10.68 

1-59 
1.20 

•13 


•53 
9  34 
1-35 
3-24 
1.67 
1.66 
2.27 

7-79 
30.63 
47-45 


$3.00 


Paper. 


$5-71 

•99 

16.16 


10.54 
2.83 


3.00 

3-37 
4.07 
3.26 
20.29 
3.60 

5-27 
1.29 

3-92 
3-59 
11.67 

1-35 


27.90 
7.68 
5-58 
6.27 

7.19 

3-97 
.41 
.80 


$2.28 


I29.79 

8:72 

22.37 

24.49 
18.04 
16.04 
18.81 
2.07 

25-33 

1.32 

2.19 

11.23 

371 

5-" 

39.22 

20.48 

21.00 

6.70 

9-74 

3-24 

18.62 

8.91 

13-85 

3.86 

6.50 

3.16 

30-43 

21.10 

10.35 

18.57 

3-75 

9-33 

2.27 

12.39 

31.20 

48-25 


?-47 


The  making  of  paper  money  requires  even  more  skill  than 
coining,  in  order  that  counterfeiting  may  be  made  nearly  impossible. 
The  United  States  currency  is  printed  on  a  special  paper  containing 
bits  of  colored  silk,  and  the  law  provides  that  such  paper  shall  not 
be  made  by  any  other  than  the  authorized  mills  working  for  the 
government.  Since  the  making  of  paper  requires  an  expensive 
plant,  this  has  been  found  to  put  an  effectual  stop  to  the  manu- 
facture of  similar  paper,  counterfeiters  resorting  to  pen-drawing 
or  the  like  to  imitate  the  colored-silk  threads. 

The  designing  of  bills  is  done  by  an  artist  specially  trained  for 
such  work,  who  takes  a  canvas,  perhaps  two  by  four  feet,  on  which 
he  paints  in  black  and  white  the  picture  portions  for  a  bank-bill  or 
other  note.  The  lettering  is  usually  painted  in  by  another  artist, 
who  is  skilled  in  that  branch  of  the  work.  The  design  having  been 
submitted  to  the  proper  authorities,  and  usually  subjected  to  more 


,  HOW    MONEY    IS    MANUFACTURED 


447 


or  less  alteration,  is  next  submitted  to  the  engravers.  I  use  the 
plural  advisedly,  because  a  number  of  engravers  are  usually  em- 
ployed to  complete  the  work  on  a  single  note,  each  taking  that 
portion  of  the  engraving  in  which  he  is  specially  skilled.  By  oper- 
ating in  this  manner,  the  men  accjuire  such  skill  in  their  specialties 
that  no  one  engraver  could  engrave  a  whole  note,  which  other  men 
skilled  in  bank-note  engraving  could  not  detect  as  the  work  of  one 
hand.  The  lathe-work  or  machine-engraving  of  the  intricate  and 
beautiful  patterns  common  to  the  back  of  United  States  notes,  and 


The  Melting-Room,  Philadelphia  Mint. 

also  to  the  border  and  "  counters,"  is  done  by  a  most  expensive 
machine,  whose  value  places  it  practically  out  of  the  reach  of  counter- 
feiters. 

The  reason  why  paper  money  is  printed  in  different  colors  is 
to  prevent  imitation  by  photo-engraving.  If  the  work  were  done 
in  black  ink  a  fairly  good  copy  could  be  made  by  any  competent 
photo-engraver.  Such  copies  might  deceive  the  ordinary  public, 
though  they  would  not  deceive  experts.  However,  the  green  and 
blue  and  red  printings  so  commonly  employed  will  not  photograph 
so  as  to  make  a  good  printing-plate,  and  this  cuts  off  the  majority 
of  attempts  at  counterfeiting  from  the  photographic  side. 


448 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  bank-notes  are  printed  in  sheets  of  four  bills  each,  marked 
"  A,"  "  B,"  "  C,"  and  "  D,"  and  appropriately  and  consecutively 
numbered.  They  are  distributed  to  the  public  mainly  through  the 
national  banks,  which  turn  into  the  treasury  old  and  worn  bills, 
receiving  new  ones  in  their  stead. 

The  manufacture  of  money  has  a  special  interest  for  almost 
every  one,  because  money  represents  everything  that  can  be  bought. 
Its  production  is  safeguarded  on  every  hand  by  law,  and  a  consid- 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Cutting  out  Coin  Blanks. 


erable  portion  of  the  work  of  the  government  detectives  in  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  in  other  countries,  lies  in  following  up 
and  checking  outbreaks  of  counterfeiting.  Every  man  who  goes 
into  the  business  is  sure  to  be  run  down  and  captured  sooner  or 
later,  so  that  while  the  counterfeiter  is  perhaps  the  least  criminal 
among  criminals,  in  that  he  does  not  seek  to  do  harm  to  any  person 
in  particular,  yet  he  is  perhaps  the  most  certain  to  end  his  career 
with  a  long  term  of  imprisonment. 


MACHINE    TOOLS    AND    MACHINE    MAKING 

The  primary  tools  that  are  used  in  the  manufacture  of  other 
tools  and  machines  are  the  lathe,  the  drill,  and  the  planer.  The 
lathe  makes  circular  cuts,  the  work  to  be  operated  on  being  mounted 
between  two  centres,  so  that  it  will  turn  or  rotate,  and  when  a  cut- 
ting tool  is  held  against  the  work  the  latter  can  be  turned  down  to  a 
smaller  size  or  shaped  by  circular  cuts  or  chips,  as  they  are  techni- 
cally termed.     Cylinders,  rings,  cones,  and  similar  articles  all  may 


Courtesy  Crocker-Wheeler  Company. 

A  Modern  Lathe,  with  Individual  Electric  Motor. 

be  turned  in  the  lathe.  The  drill  is  a  machine  for  cutting  holes, 
as  for  the  insertion  of  bolts,  shafts,  etc.  The  planer  carries  the  work 
back  and  forth  on  a  bed  in  such  a  manner  that  a  cutting  tool  may 
be  fixed,  that  is  stationary,  and  produce  a  flat,  smooth  surface  on 
the  work  that  is  moving. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  there  were  very  few  such  tools 
worthy  of  the  name  in  use  in  the  United  States,  as  the  laws  of  Great 
Britain  expressly  forbid  the  exporting  of  tools  for  working  metals 
and  manufacturing  other  tools.  The  English  laws  also  prohibited 
mechanics  and  artificers  from  going  out  of  Great  Britain  to  prac- 
tise their  trades.     These  conditions  made  it  very  difficult  to  obtain 

29  449  . 


450 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


proper  tools  for  machine-building  on  this  side  of  the  water.  There 
are  no  reliable  statistics  as  to  the  early  tools,  but  it  is  stated  on  good 
authority  that  in  1838  there  were  but  four  planers  in  all  the  United 
States.  However,  with  a  planer,  a  lathe  and  a  drill  it  is  possible  to 
build  any  number  of  other  machines,  and,  having  secured  some  kind 
of  a  start,  our  machinists  went  on  and  built  more  and  better  ma- 
chines as  the  years  rolled  by.  They  supplemented  the  drill  with  the 
boring-mill,  which  turns  out  large  hollows,  as  on  the  insides  of 


Cincinnati  Milling-Machine,  with  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Motor. 

cylinders.  As  a  help  to  the  work  of  the  planer  they  provided  the 
shaper,  a  small  machine  in  which  the  cutting  tool  travels  back  and 
forth,  while  the  work  is  stationary. 

Screw-threads  were  first  cut  on  the  lathe,  which  was  very  slow 
and  laborious;  but  in  1847  there  was  introduced  the  solid  die  of 
P.  W.  Gates,  which  had  sectional  threads  for  cutting,  allowing  the 
shavings  to  pass  out  between  the  sections.  The  principle  is  em- 
ployed up  to  the  present  time,  the  screw-die  being  considerably  im- 
proved by  William  Sellers  in  1857.     Before  1867  i^iost  gear-wheels 


MACHINE    TOOLS    AND    MACHINE   MAKING 


451 


or  cog-wheels  were  cast  and  used  without  machining,  but  in  that 
year  Sellers  produced  a  gear-cutter,  which  cut  or  shaped  the  teeth 
accurately  and  scientifically.  Now  all  gears  are  cut  with  automatic 
machines  at  very  low  cost,  and  there  is  no  difficulty  in  regard  to 
accurate  cutting. 

The  milling-machine  is  a  modern  tool  for  doing  a  variety  of 
fine  and  accurate  cutting,  by  means  of  rotating  cutters.  Punching- 
machines  are  used  to  form  holes  by  simply  punching  or  forcing  out 
a  disk  of  metal  with  dies.    Drilling-machines  are  made  for  a  variety 


A  Modern  Planer. 

of  special  work,  having  a  series  of  drills  that  cut  holes  at  the  same 
time.  Shearing-machines,  operating  on  the  principle  of  gigantic 
scissors,  are  made  that  will  cut  thick  bars  of  steel.  Rotary  planers 
are  manufactured  having  series  of  cutting  tools  all  operating  at  the 
same  time  by  rotation  over  the  surface  of  the  work. 

The  modern  bolt-making  machine  is  almost  wholly  automatic. 
An  attendant  thrusts  in  a  bar  that  is  square  or  hexagonal,  and  the 
machine  grips  it,  squares  ofif  the  projecting  end,  turns  the  body  of 
the  bolt,  cuts  the  screw-thread,  bevels  the  head,  then  cutting  off 
the  finished  bolt,  and  moving  the  bar  forward  to  make  another  bolt, 
proceeds  with  its  work  as  long  as  there  is  any  bar  left  to  operate 


452 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


on.  This  machine  can  be  run  by  low-priced  labor,  and  makes  a 
better  bolt  than  was  formerly  made  by  higher-priced  labor  by  hand. 
The  above  illustration  shows  the  latest  type  of  machine  for 
threading  bolts  or  rods.  The  dies  automatically  open  and  close 
when  the  required  lengths  of  thread  have  been  cut.  The  construc- 
tion allows  great  ease  of  operation,  and  on  account  of  the  excellence 
of  the  threading-heads  uniformity  of  production  is  produced.  The 
machine  is  provided  with  lubricating  pumps  and  chip-  and  oil-pans, 
making  them  thoroughly  self-contained. 


National  Machinery  Company's  Triple-Bolt  Cutter. 

Not  very  many  years  ago  new  machines  were  developed  on  the 
"  happy  thought"  principle,  some  inventor  having  an  idea  which 
he  worked  out  as  best  he  could.  To-day  the  American  method  of 
manufacturing  new  and  better  machines  is  very  much  improved  and 
systematized.  The  old-time  inventor  with  a  haphazard  education 
has  given  way  before  the  trained  mechanical  engineer,  and  when  a 
new  machine  is  wanted,  or  it  is  desired  to  improve  an  old  machine, 
the  problem  is  turned  over  to  engineers  experienced  in  that  line  of 
machinery.  They  are  given  the  benefit  of  such  ideas,  patented  prin- 
ciples, or  "  happy  thoughts"  as  may  be  in  the  possession  of  the  per- 


MACHINE    TOOLS    AND    MACHINE    MAKING 


453 


sons  desiring  the  machine  produced,  but  they  work  out  the  machine 
largely  on  known  scientific  principles,  and  in  this  way,  where  there 
is  sufficient  money,  will  usually  succeed  in  producing  a  commercial 
machine. 

A  trial  machine  having  been  completed  and  put  in  operation, 
defects  and  weaknesses  are  noted,  after  which  a  second  machine  is 
constructed,  in  which  the  endeavor  is  made  to  avoid  the  short- 
comings of  the  first  machine.  Usually  a  third  and  sometimes  sev- 
eral subsequent  machines  are  built  before  the  makers  are  satisfied 
that  they  have  a  commercial  machine  which  can  be  operated  success- 
fully by  an  ordinary  class  of  help. 


Courtesy  of  the  Electrical  World  and  Engineer. 

An  Electric  Gantry  Crane. 

When  the  point  of  manufacturing  a  commercial  machine  is 
reached,  a  great  many  special  tools  and  jigs  are  manufactured  for 
the  purpose  of  rendering  the  machines  interchangeable,  as  well  as 
for  producing  them  at  low  cost.  The  larger  the  investment  in 
special  tools,  the  cheaper  the  machines  can  be  made  in  quantities. 
The  jig,  which  is  the  most  common  device  used  in  making  the  parts 
of  a  machine  so  that  they  will  duplicate,  is  simply  a  little  iron  frame- 
work for  holding  a  casting  that  is  to  form  a  part  of  a  machine. 
When  the  casting  is  tightly  secured  in  its  jig,  it  may  be  accurately 
drilled  through  certain  holes  exactly  located  in  the  sides  of  the  jig 


454 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


for  that  purpose.  It  may  also  be  filed  or  machined  or  subjected  to 
the  action  of  any  one  of  a  variety  of  tools,  each  of  which  is  limited 
or  guided  in  its  action  by  the  form  of  the  jig.  When  the  casting 
is  taken  out  of  the  jig,  it  is  sure  to  be  an  exact  duplicate  of  other 
castings  that  have  been  operated  upon  in  the  same  manner  in  the 
same  jig,  and  this  is  why  when  a  part  of  a  machine  breaks  the  user 
can  telegraph  to  the  manufacturer  and  secure  promptly  a  duplicate 
part  that  will  exactly  fit  his  machine. 

This  interchangeable  system  of  machine  manufacture  origi- 
nated in  America,  and  is  sometimes  spoken  of  abroad  as  the  Ameri- 
can system.  It  is  now  followed  by  the  leading  manufacturers  in 
the  Old  World.  This  system  has  the  advantage  not  only  of  pro- 
ducing duplicate  machines,  but  of  doing  the  work  with  cheap  labor. 


A  Pratt  &  Whitney  Lathe. 

The  brains  and  the  high-priced  labor  are  used  in  the  production  of 
the  jigs,  and  when  once  these  are  correctly  made  any  workman  who 
can  drill  a  hole  or  use  a  file  or  a  planer  can  be  trusted  to  make  the 
parts  by  the  jigs,  with  certainty  that  the  work  will  be  done  cor- 
rectly. In  the  manufacture  of  large  parts  that  are  too  big  to  be 
placed  in  jigs,  templets  of  thin  sheet  metal  are  clamped  to  the  cast- 
ings to  be  operated  on,  and  the  necessary  holes  are  drilled  through 
guide-holes  in  these  templets,  other  operations  being  performed  in 
a  similar  manner. 

American  manufacturers  of  high-grade  tools  produce  them 
with  extreme  accuracy,  measuring-tools  having  been  made  that  will 
determine  correctly  difl^erences  as  small  as  the  twenty-thousandth 
of  an  inch.     The  tools  of  such  concerns  as  William  Sellers  &  Com- 


MACHINE    TOOLS    AND    MACHINE    MAKING 


455 


pany,  Pratt  &  Whitney  Company,  and  Brown  &  Sharpe  Company 
are  sold  all  over  the  world,  and  bought  by  leading  manufacturers 
of  machinery  everywhere. 

During  the  past  dozen  years  automatic  lathes  have  been  ex- 
tended in  use  to  much  larger  classes  of  work.  The  turret-lathe,  which 
is  a  machine  having  a  series  of  drills  mounted  on  a  revolving  turret, 
has  been  applied  to  much  larger  and  heavier  work,  and  operated 
with  what  is  known  as  the  magazine-feed.     This  magazine  is  made 


Courtesy  Cro     er-Wheeler  Com   an 

Buiiiig-Machiiie,  Electrically  Equipped. 

to  contain  a  series  of  rough  castings  or  drop-forgings,  which  are 
to  be  turned  in  the  lathe;  the  feed  mechanism  pushes  these  parts 
along  one  at  a  time,  while  the  lathe  turns  them  up  automatically, 
the  attendant  merely  seeing  that  the  magazine  is  supplied,  that  the 
cutting  tools  are  in  proper  condition,  and  that  the  finished  w^ork  is 
removed. 

What  is  known  as  the  oil-tube  drill  came  into  being  about  1899, 
for  use  in  drilling  gun-barrels.  This  is  a  drilling-tool  having  a  small 
channel  for  leading  the  lubricating  oil  near  to  its  point,  so  that  it 


456 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


may  be  kept  oiled  during  its  work,  without  the  constant  use  of  an 
oil-can  by  the  attendant.  It  is  now  used  in  a  great  variety  of  drill- 
ing-machines with  a  considerable  saving  of  labor. 


A  Sellers  Puiiching-Machine. 


Among  the  pneumatic  tools  which  have  come  into  such  ex- 
tended use  during  recent  years  the  pneumatic  hammer  is  a  con- 


MACHINE    TOOLS    AND    MACHINE   MAKING 


457 


spicuous  success.  It  was  originally  devised  as  a  substitute  for  the 
hand  hammer  and  chisel,  and  has  become  indispensable  in  ship- 
building for  the  riveting  of  steel  frames,  boilers,  etc. 

Stamping-  or  pressing-machines  for  making  forgings  by  press- 
ure instead  of  by  hammer-blows  have  steadily  increased  in  use  dur- 


Gould  &  Eberhardt  Shaper. 


ing  the  past  twenty  years.  The  best  forgings  are  now  made  by 
pressure  in  hydraulic  machines,  the  steam-hammer  having  been 
largely  superseded.  Other  presses  for  shaping  and  punching  sheet 
metal  are  now  used  extensively,  as  those  for  making  the  laminated 
armature  for  electric  motors  and  generators. 


458  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

The  machining  of  very  large  castings  or  forgings,  as  the  mag- 
net frames  of  large  electric  generators,  is  now  accomplished  through 
the  use  of  portable  tools  electrically  driven,  which  can  be  applied 
readily  to  any  portion  of  a  heavy  piece  of  work. 

The  development  of  cranes  for  transporting  and  moving  heavy 
articles  in  the  machine-shop  has  been  a  marked  feature  of  American 
shops,  and  a  surprising  amount  of  money  has  been  expended  in 
introducing  overhead  electric  frames  designed  to  pick  up  several 
tons-  of  metal  and  transport  the  load  to  some  other  part  of  the  shop 
in  a  very  short  space  of  time. 

In  1888,  A.  J.  Shaw,  a  Western  engineer,  devised  an  indepen- 
dent, series-wound  reversing  electric  motor  for  each  movement  of 
the  crane,  and  the  principal  defects  of  the  mechanically  driven  cranes 
were  at  once  eliminated.  No  more  clutches  were  required ;  no  gears 
to  secure  changes  of  speeds  and  reversals  of  movements ;  only  such 
gears  were  used  as  were  necessary  to  reduce  the  high  speed  of  the 
motors  to  the  relatively  slow  speeds  of  the  hook,  trolley,  and  bridge. 
Within  certain  limits  an  automatic  range  of  speed  was  secured,  de- 
pending on  the  weight  of  the  load  being  handled.  The  introduction 
of  rheostats  designed  and  built  especially  for  crane  service  further 
enabled  the  operator  to  control  every  movement  of  the  crane  with 
an  accuracy  and  delicacy  never  before  thought  possible  in  a  power- 
driven  crane.     (See  illustration,  page  616.) 

Many  new  and  difficult  problems  arose,  but  all  were  successfully 
solved.  The  multimotor  electric  travelling  crane  at  once  became 
popular,  and  the  manufacturer  of  heavy  machinery  realized  that  his 
most  serious  difficulty  had  been  removed. 

The  practice  of  using  portable  tools  and  bringing  the  tools  to 
the  work  rather  than  the  work  to  the  tools,  which  is  becoming  so 
popular  to-day,  is  a  further  development  of  the  individually  driven 
motor-tool  idea.  The  portable  tool  which  cannot  be  operated  unless 
it  is  driven  with  individual  electric  motor  serves  as  an  excellent 
example  of  what  we  should  endeavor  to  accomplish  in  our  efforts 
to  make  all  our  machine  tools  as  simple  and  useful  as  possible. 
They  should  not  be  so  arranged  that  they  must  always  be  in  one 
particular  location  in  a  shop,  for  it  may  be  desirable  to  use  this 
portion  of  the  shop,  as  time  goes  on,  for  other  purposes,  or  possibly 
it  will  become  necessary  to  crowd  in  additional  machines  of  the  same 
type  as  those  already  in  use,  and  it  is  not  every  shop  that  is  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  permit  of  the  installation  of  additional  tools  without 
necessitating  very  awkward  connections  to  the  line-shafting. 

The  United  States  census,  in  a  special  bulletin  entitled  "  Metal- 


MACHINE    TOOLS    AND    MACHINE   MAKING 


459 


Working  Machinery,"  finds  tliat  in  1900  there  were  397  estabUsh- 
ments  in  the  country  manufacturing  this  class  of  machines  and  tools, 
excluding,  of  course,  rolling-mills  and  the  like.  The  capital  invested 
was  $55,000,000,  and  employment  was  given  to  30,000  men.  The 
materials  used  were  chiefly  mill-supplies,  and  cost  nearly  $16,- 
000,000,  the  value  of  the  manufactured  product  being  over  $44,- 
000,000.     Ohio,  with  sixty-eight  establishments,  was  the  leading 


A  Niles  Boring-Mill. 

State  in  this  industry,  employing  over  6000  men,  and  making  over 
$10,000,000  worth  of  machines  and  other  products;  Pennsylvania 
came  next  with  a  product  of  $7,000,000,  followed  by  Connecticut, 
Massachusetts,  and  New  York  in  the  order  named. 

As  an  indication  of  the  extended  use  of  machine  tools,  the  fol- 
lowing figures  are  of  interest :  There  were  manufactured  in  the 
United  States,  during  1900,  857  power-hammers,  821  forging- 
machines,  7895  stamping-,  flanging-,  and  forming-machines,  5269 
punching-  and  shearing-machines,  914  bending-  and  straightening- 


46o  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

rolls,  202  riveting-machines,  over  20,000  lathes,  23,000  boring-  and 
drilling-machines,  1543  planers,  3076  slotters  and  shapers,  41 19 
milling-machines,  2846  metal-sawing  machines,  10,014  grinding- 
and  polishing-machines,  21,088  bolt-,  nut-,  and  threading-  and  tap- 
ping-machines, besides  6751  pneumatic  hand  tools. 

Specialization  has  been  the  keynote  of  success  in  the  manu- 
facture of  American  machine  tools.  The  manufacturer  who  con- 
fined his  work  to  building  lathes  was  able  to  turn  out  better  and 
cheaper  machines  than  one  who  undertook  to  make  a  dozen  classes 
of  machine  tools,  and  these  specialists  in  machinery  are  largely 
responsible  for  the  advanced  position  of  American  tools  and  ma- 
chines, and  for  the  fact  that  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1903,  we  sold  to  other  nations  $97,000,000  worth  of  manufactures 
of  iron  and  steel. 

It  is  an  undisputed  fact  that  American  machinery  leads  the 
world.  In  some  branches  we  are  excelled  by  foreign  manufacturers, 
but  in  most  lines  we  take  first  place.  This  position  cannot  be  main- 
tained without  the  continued  exercise  of  constructive  genius,  backed 
by  enterprising  capital  and  assisted  by  helpful  tariff  laws.  At  this 
date  all  three  of  these  conditions  are  in  favor  of  the  United  States. 
When  they  change,  some  other  nation  may  come  to  the  front  and 
rob  us  of  our  position  in  the  race  for  supremacy  in  the  world  of 
machinery. 


PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS 

The  greatest  producer  of  power  in  the  hands  of  man  is  steam. 
Water-power,  tidal-power,  gas-power,  sun-power,  wave-power,  and 
electric  transmission  of  power  are  all  very  well  in  certain  places  and 
conditions,  but  it  is  steam  that  does  the  work  of  the  world  to-day, 
and  is  likely  to  continue  as  the  chief  motive  power  for  years  to 
come.  Water  is  so  easy  to  obtain  and  coal  so  cheap  to  mine  that 
the  cost  is  trifling,  and  once  the  water  is  heated  over  212  degrees 
it  increases  tremendously  in  volume,  forming  the  gas  that  we  call 
steam,  which  when  confined  develops  enormous  pressure,  that  is 
made  use  of  in  the  steam-engine  to  do  useful  work. 

That  there  may  be  no  failure  of  understanding  on  the  part  of 
any  as  to  later  descriptions,  let  us  briefly  consider  how  the  ordinary 
steam-engine  works.  As  soon  as  steam  is  generated  in  the  boiler 
the  pressure  is  apparent  by  an  indicator,  set  to  show  the  number  of 
pounds  to  the  square  inch.  Almost  any  engine  will  run  with  a  few 
pounds'  pressure,  enough  to  overcome  its  own  friction,  but  to  do 
work  considerable  surplus  energy  must  be  developed,  and  steam- 
engines  are  using  higher  pressures  every  day,  fifty  or  seventy-five 
pounds  being  now  thought  rather  low,  while  a  hundred  to  two 
hundred  pounds'  pressure  is  becoming  quite  common,  and  some 
engines  are  built  to  operate  at  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  four 
hundred  pounds'  steam-pressure.  In  order  to  use  the  power  devel- 
oped by  this  pressure,  in  the  simplest  form  of  engine,  the  steam  is 
admitted  through  a  hole  called  a  port  to  one  end  of  a  cylinder.  In 
this  cylinder  is  a  piston-head,  which  is  pushed  along  by  the  pressure 
of  the  steam.  When  the  piston-head  has  travelled,  say,  a  third  of 
the  length  of  the  cylinder,  the  port  is  closed,  so  that  no  more  steam 
comes  in  to  the  cylinder,  and  the  other  two-thirds  of  the  travel  of 
the  piston-head  are  accomplished  by  the  expansion  of  the  steam, 
which  seeks  to  fill  a  space  many  hundred  times  what  was  its  volume 
as  water.  When  the  piston-head  has  been  pushed  to  the  end  of 
the  cylinder  another  port  opens  and  lets  out  the  steam,  which  may 
then  pass  into  the  air,  or  be  farther  used,  as  described  later.  In  order 
to  push  the  piston-head  back  to  the  point  of  starting,  steam  is  then 
admitted  at  the  other  end,  and  it  is  forced  back,  the  process  being 
kept  up  indefinitely,  causing  a  piston-rod  to  reciprocate,  or  move 
back  and  forth,  and  this  piston-rod  being  made  fast  to  a  crank, 

461 


462  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

turns  a  wheel  around,  and  thus  we  have  rotary  motion  as  weh  as 
reciprocating  motion. 

In  practice  steam-engines  are  vastly  more  complicated.  In 
the  best  engines  of  this  date  the  steam,  after  passing  through  the 
cylinder,  is  passed  to  a  second  cylinder  to  secure  more  of  its  expan- 
sive power,  which  is  not  exhausted ;  often  this  expansion  is  carried 
to  a  third  cylinder,  and  occasionally  to  a  fourth.  Five-cylinder  ex- 
pansion has  been  tried,  but  is  not  generally  approved  by  engineers, 
though  in  use  on  the  Lucania  and  Campania,  the  Atlantic  flyers. 
After  being  expanded  to  the  last  degree,  in  an  economical  engine 
the  steam  is  directed  to  condensers,  so  that  as  hot  water  it  may  be 
returned  to  the  boiler  and  make  steam  again  quickly,  without 
wasting  a  quantity  of  coal  to  raise  it  from  the  temperature  of  cold 
water.  The  boilers,  cylinders,  pipes,  etc.,  of  engines  are  jacketed, 
or  covered  with  insulating  material,  to  keep  in  the  heat,  and  prevent 
its  loss  by  radiation,  thus  securing  more  power  with  a  given  quan- 
tity of  coal.  In  recent  practice  superheated  steam  is  favored,  as  being 
more  economical. 

In  the  Westinghouse  compound  engine,  shown  in  the  next  fig- 
ure, the  steam  is  admitted  at  S,  and,  after  passing  the  cut-off  or 
valve-mechanism,  is  admitted  to  the  smaller  or  high-pressure  cylin- 
der. After  being  used  here,  the  steam  passes  to  the  larger  or  low- 
pressure  cylinder,  where  it  is  farther  expanded,  finally  passing  out 
at  the  exhaust,  E. 

Among  the  largest  reciprocating  engines  built  are  those  de- 
signed for  great  steamships,  some  of  which  are  rated  at  over  10,000 
horse-power,  as  those  of  the  Wisconsin,  illustrated  elsewhere.  In 
these  the  several  cylinders  are  set  upright  over  the  crank-shaft,  all 
of  them  delivering  their  power  direct  to  the  one  shaft.  Though 
more  complicated,  the  principles  of  their  construction  are  similar  to 
the  smaller  engines.  For  use  in  factories,  the  horizontal  type  of 
engine  is  commonly  employed,  and  this  is  sometimes  built  in  very 
large  sizes,  though  the  best  practice,  where  large  power  is  required, 
is  to  have  a  number  of  engines,  so  that  one  or  more  can  be  repaired 
without  stopping  the  works. 

With  all  the  ingenious  devices  employed,  the  steam-engine  is 
very  wasteful,  and  only  delivers  a  fraction  of  the  theoretical  power 
in  the  coal.  The  rest  is  lost  in  radiation,  friction,  etc.  Never- 
theless, as  has  been  stated,  this  is  the  most  practical  power  we 
have  for  general  purposes.  While  water-falls  furnish  theoretically 
cheaper  power,  in  practice  they  are  often  not  located  where  the 
power  is  wanted,  and  the  building  of  a  large  dam,  location  of  tur- 


PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS 


463 


bine  water-wheels,  and  carrying  of  the  power  away  by  means  of 
electric  dynamos  and  motors,  involves  the  investment  of  a  great 
amount  of  money.  Therefore,  the  average  user  of  small  powers — 
say  from  ten  to  a  hundred  horse-power — finds  a  steam-engine  the 
cheapest. 


Westinghouse  Compound  Steam-Eng-ine. 

The  Patent  Office  is  strewn  with  the  record  of  efforts  to  pro- 
duce a  satisfactory  rotary  engine.  Many  inventors  have  thought 
that  this  was  the  ideal  engine,  and  that  it  must  at  some  time  replace 
the  reciprocating  engine.  As  yet,  the  best  that  can  be  said  of  this 
form  of  engine  is  that  those  made  have  not  been  sufficiently  good 
to  induce  their  adoption  in  preference  to  the  older  types  of  engine. 
There  has  been  selected  for  illustration  here  one  of  the  most  prom- 


464 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


ising  rotary  engines,  the  invention  of  E.  C.  Warren,  which  is  manu- 
factured by  the  Rotary  Engine  Company  of  Philadelphia. 

The  cross  sectional  view  (Fig.  2)  shows  an  arrangement  very 
similar  to  that  of  all  rotary  engines.     The  piston- wheel,  which  is 


Warren's  Rotary  Engine.    Fig.  i. 


in  the  centre,  carries  a  broad  flange  at  each  end  and  a  central  web, 
these  being  best  shown  in  the  perspective  view.  (Fig.  3.)  The 
steam  is  admitted  centrally  through  the  piston-wheel,  which  it  ro- 
tates in  expanding,  passing  out  at  the  exhausts  (lower  part  Fig.  2). 


Cross-Section  of  Rotary  Engine.     Fig.  2. 


The  rotary  heads  on  either  side  of  the  piston-wheel  serve  simply 
to  receive  the  webs  on  the  piston,  permitting  them  to  pass  without 
allowing  the  escape  of  steam.  Thus  far  the  arrangement  is  very 
similar  to  other  rotary  engines,  the  chief  feature  of  the  Warren 


PROGRESS  IN  POWER  PRODUCERS 


465 


engine  consisting  in  one  end  of  the  cylindrical  piston  being  made  a 
little  smaller  than  the  other  end,  to  cause  a  slight  end-thrust  that 


Pistoii-Wheel  of  Rotary  Engine. 


tends  to  force  the  tapered  wheel  farther  into  the  tapered  bore  of 
the  casing,  thus  maintaining  close  joints  in  spite  of  wear  on  the 
surfaces.  There  is  also  a  device  for  preventing  an  excess  of  end- 
thrust.  The  difficulty  with  most  rotary  engines  has  been  that  they 
either  leaked  steam  or  lost  power  because  of  extreme  friction.     Per- 


Branca's  Steam-Turbine,  A.  U.  1629. 

haps  this  engine  or  some  outgrowth  from  it  may  prove  more  free 
from  these  than  its  predecessors. 

The  most  notable  development  of  steam  engineering  has  been 
in  the  perfecting  of  the  steam-turbine,  now  coming  into  use.  This 
uses  the  steam  direct,  in  the  simplest  manner,  it  being  blown  directly 

30 


466 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


against  the  buckets  of  a  wheel.  The  idea  is  older  than  the  steam- 
engine,  dating  from  Hero's  engine  of  120  B.C.  The  modern  type 
more  nearly  resembles  the  engine  of  Branca,  made  in  1629,  and 
here  illustrated,  but  the  method  was  thought  to  be  impractical,  and 
existed  only  as  a  curiosity  until  1883,  when  De  Laval  made  his  first 
successful  steam-turbine.  Even  though  successful,  it  has  required 
twenty  years  to  bring  this  form  of  an  engine  into  moderate  use. 
The  De  Laval,  Parsons,  and  other  steam-turbines  are  now  looked 
upon  by  engineers  as  destined  to  supersede  the  older  forms  of  engine 
for  many  purposes. 


De  Laval  Steam-Turbiiie. 


The  illustration  of  the  De  Laval  turbine  shows  so  clearly  what 
it  is,  that  description  at  first  seems  unnecessary,  yet  there  are  prin- 
ciples involved  not  apparent  on  the  surface.  The  steam  is  admitted 
from  the  nozzles  against  the  curved  buckets  of  the  wheel,  causing 
it  to  rotate  at  an  enormous  speed.  Since  no  wheel  is  perfect,  even 
the  most  carefully  made  De  Laval  wheel  is  bound  to  be  heavier  in 
some  parts  of  its  periphery  than  others,  and  when  it  is  whirled 
around  at  a  velocity  of  several  thousand  times  a  second  this  irregu- 
larity is  magnified  and  would  produce  tremendous  vibrations  that 
would  thump  it  to  pieces  were  it  not  for  a  very  simple  feature.    The 


468  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

central  shaft  or  axle  is  made  long  and  thin,  so  that  it  bends  readily. 
Therefore,  when  the  wheel  goes  whirling  at  tremendous  speed  it 
finds  its  true  centre  of  gravity  very  quickly,  and  the  shaft  yields 
slightly,  accommodating  itself  to  this.  Hence  there  is  no  vibration 
after  speed  is  once  attained. 

Another  difficulty  that  De  Laval  and  other  designers  of  steam- 
turbines  had  to  contend  with  was  that  the  natural  rotation  velocities 
secured  were  much  too  rapid  for  convenient  use.  Under  the  usual 
conditions  steam  escapes  from  the  nozzles  at  a  speed  of  nearly  1500 
feet  a  second.  Uncontrolled  and  applied  to  a  fair-sized  wheel,  it 
would  easily  drive  the  wheel  so  fast  that  it  would  burst  from  cen- 
trifugal force.  These  difficulties  have  been  met  in  a  measure,  and 
small  turbines  are  now  constructed  with  about  500  revolutions  per 
second,  geared  down  to  fifty  revolutions  for  use ;  while  in  the  larger 
sizes  the  speed  is  reduced  to  about  165  revolutions  (of  the  turbine) 

I  y 

1         [(^C^C^C^QCCC^C^        STATIOt^ARY  BLADES 


^     )  ))  ))  ))  ))  /' 


MOVING  BLADES 


3         (CCCCCCCCC  STATIONARY  BLADES 


MOVING  BLADES 
Diagram  Illustrating  Principle  of  Westinghouse-Parsons  Steam-Turbine. 

per  second,  giving  usually  from  600  to  1200  feet  peripheral  speed. 
This  speed  is  reduced  by  means  of  helical  spur-gears  so  that  it  is 
brought  where  it  can  be  conveniently  used  to  drive  a  dynamo  or 
other  rapid  mechanism. 

The  Parsons  steam-turbine  came  out  in  1884,  has  been  grad- 
ually developed,  and  since  its  use  on  the  Turbinia,  the  English 
torpedo-boat  that  broke  all  speed  records  a  few  years  since,  has 
been  greatly  in  favor  for  marine  use,  where  high  speed  is  required. 
It  operates  by  the  reaction  of  the  steam  on  the  vanes  of  wheels 
placed  alternately  with  fixed  vanes  or  blades  that  are  oppositely  posi- 
tioned, the  course  of  the  steam  being  in  the  direction  of  the  arrows 
P,  P^,  etc.  By  this  arrangement  a  series  of  turbines  or  vaned 
wheels  are  set  on  a  shaft,  and  the  steam  passes  from  wheel  to  wheel, 
until  its  energy  is  practically  exhausted,  when  it  goes  to  a  condenser. 

If  the  steam  were  simply  admitted  at  one  end  of  a  series  of 
wheels  and  out  at  the  other,  the  mechanism  would  crowd  against 


'     PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS  469 

one  side  of  the  bearings,  producing  what  is  called  end-thrust,  with 
great  resultant  wear.  This  is  avoided  by  the  reaction  of  the  steam 
in  the  stationary  blades. 

Turbines  show  a  fair  degree  of  economy  in  comparison  with 
the  older  methods  of  using  steam,  and  it  has  been  demonstrated 
lately  that  the  economy  increases  with  the  superheating  of  the  steam. 
Professor  R.  H.  Thurston  has  proven  that  there  is  a  gain  of  about 
one  per  cent,  in  economy  for  every  thirty  degrees  of  superheat,  which 
gain  he  attributes  to  the  reduction  of  skin  friction. 

The  Parsons  turbine  was  applied  to  the  Turbinia  with  a  view 
of  exploring  the  possibilities  of  high  speed  directly  applied  to  the 
propeller-shaft.  This  developed  the  phenomenon  of  cavitation, 
which  limits  the  practical  speed  of  propellers,  because  when  turned 
at  more  than  a  certain  speed  they  tend  to  produce  a  vacuum,  instead 
of  exerting  a  pushing  influence  on  the  water.  However,  a  new 
type  of  speedy  boat  was  established,  which  is  more  fully  described 
in  the  chapter  entitled  "  The  Race  for  Supremacy  on  the  Seas."  In 
April,  1897,  the  Turbinia  made  a  mile  in  no  seconds,  and  later 
reduced  this  to  104  seconds. 

George  Westinghouse  said  recently  in  an  interview : 

"  The  steam-turbine  is  not  a  new  and  comparatively  untried  invention,  as 
many  laymen  seem  to  think.  There  are  half  a  million  horse-power  of  Parsons 
steam-turbines  in  daily  operation  in  different  parts  of  the  world ;  eighty-four 
thousand  horse-power  of  these  are  in  steam  vessels.  In  the  United  States  alone 
there  are  60,000  horse-power  of  the  stationary  type  used  in  connection  with 
electric  light  and  power  in  continual  operation,  and  150,000  horse-power  more 
are  already  contracted  for  and  now  under  construction  at  Pittsburg,  where  tmits 
as  large  as  8000  horse-power  are  being  built.  We  shall  build  up  a  great  marine 
turbine  industry  in  the  United  States.  The  importance  of  the  marine  turbine 
has  not  been  overestimated,  and  it  is  long  past  the  stage  of  experiment.  For 
passenger  ships,  freight  ships,  yachts  and  for  battleships,  not  less  than  for 
torpedo  boats,  the  turbine  is  unquestionably  the  best  engine.  For  pleasure  craft 
the  turbine  surpasses  all  other  forms  of  engine,  because  of  its  absolute  freedom 
from  vibration.  Its  compactness  recommends  it  for  all  classes  of  vessels.  In 
torpedo  boats  the  saving  of  room  is  needed  to  accommodate  other  machinery. 
In  naval  cruisers  and  battleships,  the  engines  lie  so  much  closer  to  the  ship's 
keel  as  to  make  them  far  less  likely  to  be  injured  by  the  enemy's  shots.  We 
need  not  call  the  turbine  the  engine  of  the  future,  it  is  decidedly  the  engine  of 
the  present." 

The  Westinghouse  Air-Brake  Company  put  in  the  first  large 
steam-turbine  equipment  at  Wilmerding,  Pennsylvania,  using  it  in 
connection  with  their  electrical  power  distribution  system.  The 
largest  turbine  erected  in  America  up  to  1903  was  at  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  where  a  2000  horse-power  turbine  is  running  with 
satisfactory  results.  At  the  World's  Fair  in  St.  Louis,  the  present 
year,  an  8000  horse-power  steam-turbine  is  on  exhibition.     Where 


470 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


looo  horse-power  or  more  are  required,  the  cost  of  the  engine- 
room  and  outfit  is  about  half  what  it  would  be  with  reciprocating 
engines. 

In  addition  to  the  De  Laval  and  Parsons  turbines,  which  have 
been  mentioned,  a  Curtis  turbine  is  also  manufactured,  and  in  France 
and  Switzerland  the  Rateau  turbine  is  used,  both  of  these  being 
very  similar  to  the  De  Laval.  While  at  present  the  turbine  has 
shown  itself  useful  principally  for  connection  with  dynamos,  where 
very  large  powers  are  used,  and  for  torpedo-boats,  and,  in  a  small 
way,  for  cream-separators,  the  fact  that  it  has  in  these  fields  in 
twenty  years  outstripped  the  reciprocating  engine  with  its  two  hun- 


Waste  Water  Returning  to- Niagara  River  after  Furnishing  Power  to  Factories. 

dred  years  of  development,  suggests  a  very  much  enlarged  field  for 
it  in  the  near  future.    Its  advantages  may  be  classified  as  follows : 

1.  The  steam  is  applied  directly,   without  intervening  mech- 
anism that  involves  friction,  lost  motion,  etc. 

2.  All  the  parts  are  rotating,  permitting  the  highest  speeds. 

3.  It  occupies  very  much  less  space  than  a  reciprocating  engine, 
requires  a  lighter  foundation,  and  weighs  less. 

4.  It  has  no  dead  centre,  but  will  start  in  any  position. 

5.  No  valve-gearing  whatever  is  used. 

6.  It  is  cheap  to  build  and  cheap  to  buy. 

7.  The  condensing  of  the  steam  in  the  engine  does  no  harm,  as 
with  reciprocating  engines. 

.  8.  It  is  started  by  turning  on  the  steam  and  stopped  by  turning 
it  off. 


■     PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS  471 

9.  The  absence  of  vibration  renders  it  very  valuable  for  marine 


use. 


10.  Its  low  centre  of  gravity  is  an  advantage  in  a  steamship. 

1 1 .  There  are  very  few  parts  to  break,  and  the  wear  is  trifling. 

12.  Its  efficiency  between  full  load  and  half  load  varies  but 
little. 

Next  to  the  steam-engine  comes  the  gas-engine,  which  derives 
its  power  from  exploding  a  mixture  of  coal-gas  (that  may  be  com- 
mon illuminating  gas)  with  air.  These  are  patterned  after  the 
steam-engine  in  that  they  have  a  cylinder,  ports,  and  a  crank  and 
piston.  In  the  usual  form  they  drive  only  from  one  end  of  the  cylin- 
der, giving  an  explosion  every  other  stroke,  the  intermediate  stroke 
being  required  for  the  compression  of  the  exploding  mixture.  Ordi- 
nary city  gas  is  admitted  by  a  valve,  and  another  valve  admits  air  to 
the  space  over  the  piston  in  the  cylinder.  When  these  are  admitted  in 
the  proper  quantity  and  compressed  and  ignited  by  either  a  flame  or 
electric  spark  there  is  an  explosion,  the  force  of  which  is  nicely  regu- 
lated, so  that  injury  is  impossible,  and  it  simply  serves  to  drive  the 
piston  and  incidentally  the  large  fly-wheel,  which  stores  the  power 
until  the  next  explosion. 

The  common  method  of  burning  coal  to  supply  heat  and  power 
is  theoretically  wrong,  as  demonstrated  by  the  low  cost  at  which 
fuel  gas  can  now  be  manufactured  and  the  economical  power  that 
can  be  obtained  through  large  gas-engines.  When  we  burn  coal 
in  the  ordinary  way,  we  simply  get  the  benefit  of  the  coal-gas  in  it 
and  of  the  coke;  but  when  we  manufacture  the  coal  into  gas  by 
the  most  recent  improved  water-gas  process  we  obtain  from  the 
water  an  additional  quantity  of  gas,  eight  or  ten  times  as  great  as 
is  obtainable  from  the  coal  alone.  In  other  words,  through  the  use 
of  coal  we  release  the  hydrogen  from  the  water  so  that  we  may  use 
it  to  burn. 

Under  the  best  conditions,  fuel  gas  can  be  thus  produced  at  a 
cost  of  probably  one-fourth  the  price  usually  charged  to  the  con- 
sumers of  gas  in  the  cities,  and  this  makes  not  only  a  cheap  fuel, 
but,  when  used  to  produce  explosions  in  the  gas-engine,  results  in  a 
most  economical  form  of  power. 

Mond  gas  is  a  comparatively  new  article,  which  is  being  intro- 
duced for  use  in  gas-engines  and  for  heating  purposes.  It  is  manu- 
factured very  cheaply,  because  it  utilizes  the  very  cheapest  coal,  viz., 
the  slack  or  dross ;  and  it  has  been  produced  on  a  large  scale  at  a 
cost  of  less  than  one  cent  per  thousand  feet;  a  gross  ton  (that  is, 
:2240  pounds)  of  rough  slack  coal  will  produce  about  140,000  feet 


472 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


of  Monci  gas  of  good  heating  quality,  and  when  this  is  used  in  a 
large  gas-engine  it  will  furnish  2500  horse-power  hours.  It  works 
better  in  gas-engines  than  does  the  ordinary  city  gas  furnished  for 
lighting  purposes. 

In  the  larger  gas-engines  there  are  two,  or  three,  or  more  cylin- 
ders, but  until  a  few  years  ago  gas-engines  were  thought  suitable 
only  for  small  powers.     The  largest  gas-engine  shown  at  the  Pan- 


Westinghouse  Gas-Engine. 


American  Exposition  in  1901  was  of  300  horse-power,  while  at 
St.  Louis  in  this  year,  1904,  there  is  on  exhibition  an  Allis-Chalmers 
gas-engine  of  2000  horse-power,  and  another  of  German  make  of 
1750  horse-power. 

The  illustration  shows  the  working  of  a  single-cylinder  West- 
inghouse gas-engine.  The  piston  has  just  reached  the  upper  limit 
of  its  compression  stroke,  and  the  inlet-valve,  J,  and  the  exhaust- 


■    PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS  473 

valve,  E,  are  both  closed.  At  F  is  the  igniter  just  ready  to  flash. 
Its  terminals  are  about  to  be  separated  by  the  spring  in  the  guide,  D, 
and  when  they  separate  the  spark  is  formed  that  ignites  the  charge 
in  the  space  above  the  cylinder.  The  ignition  burns  the  gases,  which 
immediately  rise  in  pressure,  this  constituting  the  explosion,  and 
the  piston  is  forced  down. 

The  Koerting  double-acting,  two-cycle  gas-engine,  built  by  the 
De  la  Vergne  Machine  Company,  of  New  York,  marks  a  new 
departure  in  explosive  engines.  One  of  the  drawbacks  of  these 
engines  in  the  past  has  been  that  they  explode  at  every  other  stroke, 
for  this  reason  requiring  very  heavy  fly-wheels  to  maintain  a  steady 
power.  The  Koerting  engine  has  a  double-ended  cylinder,  and 
receives  the  combustible  mixture  of  gas  and  air  at  the  centre  of  the 
cylinder,  this  arrangement  making  it  double-acting,  so  that  it  is 
possible  to  reduce  the  size  of  the  fly-wheel,  producing  a  machine 
that  much  resembles  a  horizontal  steam-engine. 


The  Rand  Direct-Acting  Steam  Air-Compressor. 

Compressed-air  motors  are  used  in  many  instances  in  prefer- 
ence to  steam-engines.  For  locomotives  for  underground  use  in 
mines  and  tunnels  they  have  the  advantage  of  developing  no  noxious 
gases;  in  fact,  they  tend  to  improve  the  atmosphere  by  releasing 
pure  air.  They  operate  wuth  a  cylinder  or  cylinders,  like  the  steam 
locomotive,  but  there  are  numerous  differences  in  the  construction 
growing  out  of  the  conditions.  A  steam-engine  is  always  hot  when 
in  use;  a  compressed-air  engine  also  develops  heat  by  compression 
of  the  air  as  well  as  frictional  heat.  The  best  results  are  obtained 
in  those  compressed-air  engines  that  heat  the  air  at  the  final  using, 
in  order  to  secure  the  most  expansion.  To  avoid  as  far  as  pos- 
sible the  loss  of  heat  involved  in  using  compressed  air,  the  usual 
method  is  to  compress  the  air  in  three  stages,  so  as  to  recover  the 
heat  developed  in  compression  by  means  of  circulating  water  about 
the  cylinders.     The  heat  generated  in  compression  thus  serves  to 


'  PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS  475 

assist  in  heating  water  for  the  boilers  used  to  drive  the  engine  that 
does  the  compression. 

After  compression,  the  air,  which  has  been  cooled,  is  stored  in 
steel  tanks  at  a  pressure  often  as  great  as  2000  pounds  to  the  square 
inch.  From  such  tanks  it  is  passed  through  a  reducing  cylinder, 
so  that  it  can  be  used  at  a  pressure  somewhere  between  fifty  and  a 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  If  heat  is  used  for  expansion,  the  moist- 
ure is  turned  to  steam,  and  still  further  aids  the  expansion  of  the 
air  and  consequent  development  of  power. 

Oil-engines  are  made  in  a  variety  of  forms,  many  of  them  being 
simply  steam-engines  arranged  to  burn  oil  as  fuel  instead  of  coal; 
others  are  so  different  in  construction  as  to  require  a  special  descrip- 
tion. The  type  commonly  denominated  as  a  gasolene  engine  is 
much  used  on  motor-bicycles,  automobiles,  etc.  These  operate  by 
permitting  gasolene  to  issue  in  a  very  fine  stream  into  a  vaporizer, 
so  that  it  is  turned  to  gas,  which,  being  mixed  with  air  and  ignited 
in  a  cylinder  by  an  electric  spark  or  flame,  explodes,  producing  a 
pressure  for  driving  the  cylinder. 

In  order  to  satisfy  the  demand  which  has  arisen  for  direct- 
connected  outfits  the  De  la  Vergne  Machine  Company,  of  New 
York  City,  have  recently  put  on  the  market  a  vertical  type  of  two- 
cylinder  oil-  or  kerosene-engine,  the  Hornsby-Akroyd,  which  is 
shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration.  The  fifteen  horse-power 
size  shown  runs  at  a  speed  of  about  450  revolutions  per  minute. 
The  crank-shaft  of  the  engine  is  rigidly  connected  to  the  dynamo 
by  shaft  coupling.  The  crank-pins  are  set  in  line,  and  on  each 
explosion  a  revolution  of  the  crank-shaft  is  obtained.  The  engine 
operates  on  the  four-cycle  plan,  consequently  proper  combustion  is 
obtained  in  the  cylinder.  The  fuel  is  supplied  to  the  vaporizers  by 
two  separate  oil-supply  pumps,  accordingly  the  engine  can  be  oper- 
ated as  a  single-cylinder  engine  should  it  be  desired  to  do  so.  The 
regulating  speed  governor,  the  most  important  feature  of  direct- 
connected  outfit,  is  the  Rites  patent  governor  placed  in  the  fly-wheel 
of  the  engine.  The  regulation  of  speed  is  effected  by  automatically 
varying  the  length  of  the  oil-pump  stroke.  Thus,  if  the  load  on 
the  engine  is  decreased,  the  governor,  by  means  of  an  eccentric, 
suitably  decreases  the  stroke  of  the  oil-pump,  varying  exactly  the 
pressure  in  the  cylinder  to  suit  the  load  which  the  engine  has  to  over- 
come. Practically  perfect  regulation  of  speed  results,  and  the 
makers  claim  a  variation  in  speed  of  less  than  two  per  cent. 

The  consumption  of  oil  in  this  engine  is  stated  by  the  makers 
as  less  than  one  pound  per  actual  horse-power  hour.    The  fuel  used 


476 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


is  ordinary  kerosene,  crude  or  fuel  oil.  When  using  kerosene  the 
cost  of  operation  is  approximately  one  cent  per  horse-power  hour; 
with  crude  oil  this  cost  may  be  less  than  one-half  cent.  The  opera- 
tion of  this  engine  is  entirely  automatic  and  it  requires  no  adjust- 
ment whatever,  the  only  attention  necessary  being  the  heating  up 
of  the  vaporizers  for  five  or  ten  minutes  before  starting,  and  occa- 
sional lubrication  afterwards. 

A  variety  of  motors  have  been  built  using  unusual  motive  fluids. 
An  ether-motor  for  automobiles  is  described  in  another  chapter.    An 


Hornsby-Akroyd  Oil-Engine. 

ammonia-motor  has  been  built,  to  take  advantage  of  the  very  low 
temperature  at  which  ammonia  boils  or  vaporizes,  the  theory  being 
that  it  would  require  very  little  coal  on  this  account,  and  that  the 
ammonia  would  not  be  costly,  being  used  over  and  over.  But 
neither  of  these  has  proven  practical  for  ordinary  uses. 

The  electric  motor  deserves  some  consideration  here,  for,  though 
not  a  producer  of  power,  it  is  used  to  deliver  it,  and,  as  far  as  users 
are  concerned,  is  viewed  very  much  in  the  same  light.  The  small 
electric  motor  has  displaced  the  small  steam-engine  in  a  great  many 


PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS  477 

places,  the  user  preferring  it,  and  leaving  the  task  of  supplying  the 
actual  power  to  a  power  company  operating  huge  steam-engines  to 
drive  their  dynamos,  or  in  some  cases  securing  water-power.  The 
steam-engine  or  water-wheel  turns  the  dynamo,  and  this  converts 
the  energy  into  electricity,  which  is  sent  out  over  wires  to  the  users 
of  small  motors  or  for  various  other  purposes.  It  is  estimated  that 
there  are  over  60,000  small  electric  motors  in  use  in  the  United 
States,  costing  $12,000,000  and  supplying  1,000,000  of  horse 
power.  Users  of  machinery  find  it  best  to  equip  all  large  machines 
with  individual  motors,  and  in  this  way  not  only  make  their  opera- 
tion independent  of  other  machines,  but  also  save  the  expense  of 
surplus  power  and  of  running  shafting  and  belts  when  the  machine 
is  idle.  While  electric  motors  have  cost  more  in  some  cases  than 
steam-engines,  and  while  the  charge  for  electric  power  was  usually 
higher  per  horse-power  than  that  paid  direct  for  steam-power,  yet 
the  saving  in  shafting,  belts  and  friction,  and  reduced  time  of  oper- 
ating have  more  than  offset  these.  Nothing  will  stop  the  introduction 
of  a  machine  that  saves  money,  and  the  electric  motor  proved  a  saver, 
although  it  usually  delivered  power  from  some  other  prime  motor ; 
but  in  that  case  it  was  a  better  and  more  economical  engine,  and 
the  motor  was  better  than  the  shafting  and  belts  it  displaced.  The 
introduction  of  the  small  motor  also  afforded  more  light  and  room 
in  factories,  printing-offices,  machine-shops,  etc.,  where  it  was  used, 
and  there  was  less  dust  and  dirt  and  fewer  repairs. 

The  question  of  whether  or  not  power  shall  be  distributed  in 
machine-shops  by  means  of  electricity  is  to-day  hardly  considered, 
as  the  advantages  obtained  by  this  method  have  been  so  successfully 
proven  that  there  is  little  room  left  for  doubt.  Besides  eliminating 
the  disadvantages  of  line  shafting,  belting,  and  the  inflexibility  of 
location,  the  individual  drive  of  machine-tools  by  electric  motors 
increases  the  efficiency  and  output.  There  are  numerous  minor  con- 
veniences coming  with  the  employment  of  electric  motors,  such  as 
that  in  a  growing  manufactory,  as  each  new  machine  is  added  a 
little  motor  comes  with  it,  and  there  is  no  overhauling  of  the  engine- 
room  every  little  while  to  get  more  power;  it  is  easier  to  move  or 
relocate  machines,  and  the  bother  of  oiling  shafting,  keeping  it  in 
line,  and  tightening  belts  is  avoided.  The  result  of  all  these  de- 
sirable features  of  electric  driving  by  motors  is  not  only  lower  cost, 
but  increased  output  and  larger  profits. 

The  water-wheel  is  the  oldest  power  we  have,  and  the  modern 
turbine  is  the  best  means  of  utilizing  it,  except  where  very  high  heads 
or  pressures  are  obtainable,  and  then  tangential  water-wheels,  of  the 


478 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Pelton  type,  somewhat  resembling  the  De  Laval  steam-turbine,  pro- 
duce the  best  results.     The  turbine  finds  its  highest  development  in 


the  installation  at  Niagara  Falls,  where  a  series  of  5000  horse-power 
dynamos  are  directly  driven  by  turbines,  specially  designed  to  re- 


PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS 


479 


ceive  the  impact  of  water  after  a  fall  of  136  feet.  This  power  sta- 
tion has  been  described  so  often  that  it  seems  superfluous  to  more 
than  mention  it  here.  The  Pelton  type  of  wheel  for  high  water- 
heads  is  not  so  w^ell  known,  its  use  being  confined  largely  to  Western 
mines  where  a  high  head  of  water  is  obtainable  as  a  source  of 
power.  This  wheel  is  simplicity  itself,  and  depends  for  its  successful 
working  upon  the  exactly  scientific  construction  of  its  parts  and  the 
use  of  great  pressures.  It  is  a  simple  wheel  with  a  series  of  buckets 
around  its  periphery,  into  which  the  water  is  directed  from  a  nozzle. 
To  increase  the  power  of  the  wheel  two  parallel  rows  of  buckets  are 
sometimes  employed,  with  two  or  more  nozzles  to  each  row.  It 
is  principally  manufactured  in  small  sizes  for  high  speeds,  and  a 


The  Pelton  Water-Wheel. 


small  Pelton  wheel  with  high  head  of  water  and  several  nozzles  is 
quite  satisfactory  for  direct  connection  with  a  dynamo  or  other  high- 
speed machine. 

The  amount  of  power  obtainable  from,  one  of  these  wheels 
under  high  pressure  is  remarkable.  Suppose  a  location  250  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  water  supply,  and  plenty  of  water;  put  in 
a  six-foot  Pelton  wheel,  and  you  can  get  out  of  it  267  horse-power 
with  one  nozzle,  or  534  horse-power  with  two  nozzles — a  very 
convenient  power  to  have.  A  three-foot  Pelton  wheel,  located  in 
the  Comstock  mine,  in  Nevada,  1640  feet  below  the  surface  and 
operated  under  a  water-head  of  2100  feet,  develops  100  horse-power 
with  a  half-inch  stream  of  water.  A  tunnel  four  miles  long  carries 
ofif  the  water.     The  surface  velocity  of  the  wheel  is  120  miles  an 


48o 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


hour,  and  it  would  be  double  this  if  it  was  not  reduced  by  the  load, 
or  resistance  of  the  machinery  it  has  to  drive. 

Tidal-motors  and  wave-motors  have  never  secured  general 
recognition.  These  are  based  on  great  natural  powers  going  to 
waste,  and  at  first  sight  it  appears  as  if  engineers  had  been  very  lax 
in  not  developing  machinery  for  economically  using  the  rise  and  fall 


De  la  Vergiie  Upright  Pumping-Engine. 

of  the  tide,  and  the  inrolling  of  the  surf.  But  all  the  methods  so 
far  tried  have  failed  of  commercial  success  because  they  either  cost 
more  or  did  not  do  the  work  as  well  as  a  steam-engine.  While  there 
is  enormous  power  in  a  rising  and  falling  tide,  yet  it  requires  a  very 
large  and  costly  mechanism  to  use  it,  and  it  does  not  give  forth  its 
energy  for  about  one  hour  in  every  six  of  the  day,  which  means 
that  the  users  of  the  power  must  either  remain  idle  during  the  turns 


PROGRESS    IN    POWER    PRODUCERS  481 

of  the  tide,  or  fall  back  on  some  other  power,  or  go  to  further  ex- 
pense to  store  the  tidal  power  to  be  used  as  wanted.  In  the  case  of 
wave-motors,  their  operation  is  more  or  less  intermittent,  though 
some  very  excellent  ones  have  been  built;  but  the  best  of  them  are 
liable  to  destruction  about  once  a  year,  because  so  exposed  to  storms, 
and  they  are  not  seriously  considered  by  power  users. 

The  windmill  has  come  into  considerable  use  for  water-raising 
on  farms,  and  that  is  about  all  it  is  good  for,  as  wind-power  is  one 


The  Los  Angeles  Sun-Motor. 

of  the  most  uncertain  of  Nature's  forces.  Except  that  windmills  are 
built  better  and  cheaper  than  they  used  to  be,  there  has  not  been 
much  change  in  them  for  several  hundred  years. 

Sun-motors  have  been  discussed  by  many  and  built  occasionally 
by  some  enterprising  experimentalists.  Such  motors  would  be  spe- 
cially useful  in  a  desert  region,  where  water  is  scarce  for  a  steam- 
engine  and  where  sunshine  is  plenty  and  reliable.  Ericsson  tried 
his  hand  at  building  one  in  1884,  but  it  was  not  a  commercial  suc- 
cess.    A  few  years  ago  a  company  was  formed  that  built  several, 

31 


482  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

of  which  the  latest  and  most  successful  was  located  at  Los  Angeles, 
California,  and  is  here  illustrated.  It  consists  of  an  immense  re- 
flecting surface,  thirty-three  and  one-half  feet  in  diameter,  made 
of  788  small  mirrors,  all  positioned  to  throw  the  sun's  rays  on  a 
central  boiler  of  peculiar  form.  Of  course  the  entire  apparatus  has 
to  swing  with  the  sun  so  as  to  always  face  the  blazing  orb. 

The  boiler  holds  a  hundred  gallons  of  water,  and  has  eight 
cubic  feet  of  steam  space  besides.  Starting  with  cold  water,  the  heat 
is  sufficient  to  raise  steam  and  get  up  a  pressure  of  150  pounds  in 
one  hour.  By  means  of  a  condenser  the  water  is  used  over  and  over 
again.  Some  idea  of  the  heat  generated  within  the  reflector  may  be 
gained  by  thrusting  a  stick  of  wood  within  its  influence;  it  blazes 
up  like  a  match  touched  to  a  hot  stove.  The  machine  is  wholly  auto- 
matic, being  self-oiled.  When  once  set  properly  facing  the  sun,  it 
takes  care  of  itself  for  the  remainder  of  the  day,  delivering  its  power 
through  a  peculiar  form  of  gearing  to  the  ground  level.  The  motor 
shown  in  the  illustration  was  used  for  pumping  for  irrigation,  and 
lifted  1400  gallons  a  minute.  In  this  size  it  has  a  capacity  of  about 
ten  or  twelve  horse-power. 

For  descriptions  of  other  motors  see  the  chapters  "  Revolution 
in  Vehicles  and  Roadways,"  "  The  Race  for  Supremacy  on  the 
Seas,"  and  "  The  Iron  Horse  and  the  Railways." 


COTTON,  WOOL,  AND    TEXTILE    MANUFACTURES 

.  No  industry  is  more  important  than  the  manufacture  of  tex- 
tiles, for  on  this  we  depend  for  our  clothing — a  prime  necessity  of 
civilized  existence. 

Men  began  to  wear  clothes  before  the  dawn  of  history.  Their 
first  clothing  was  made  of  the  skins  and  furs  of  wild  animals  they 
had  killed.  When  weaving  became  common,  the  woolly  animals 
were  in  demand  to  give  up  their  long  fleece  to  make  clothing  for 
men  who  had  wandered  to  chilly  climes.  That  weaving  was  under- 
stood many  thousands  of  years  ago  is  positively  known  by  the  gar- 
ments and  cloths  found  about  Egyptian  mummies  of  vast  age. 
Egyptian  and  Assyrian  as  well  as  Mexican  carvings  also  indicate 
clothing  that  was  woven  rather  than  made  of  skins. 

From  the  white  and  fleecy  filaments  of  the  cotton  burr  we  de- 
rive the  cloth  for  the  million,  low  in  cost  and  as  useful  in  a  thousand 
ways  as  the  higher-priced  fabrics.  From  the  tangled  wool  of  the 
bleating  sheep  and  can-devouring  goat  we  secure  the  tough  warm 
fibres  that  go  to  make  the  strongest  and  most  durable  of  fabrics 
for  heavy  clothing,  giving  warmth  and  having  great  endurance 
against  wear.  From  flax  we  derive  material  for  our  table  linens 
and  summer  gowns;  from  jute  we  make  our  bagging,  and  from 
hemp  the  rope  that  forms  a  ship's  hawser  or  a  hangman's  knot. 
From  the  tiny  thread  of  the  silkworm  we  weave  the  most  beautiful 
and  costly  fabrics  of  fashion,  the  satin  and  silk  gowns  of  queens, 
the  chiffon,  gauze -and  lace  that  grace  the  costumes  of  the  highest 
in  all  lands.  Such  are  the  materials  of  the  textile  world,  but  the 
description  of  its  progress  is  a  tale  of  more  prose  than  poetry. 
While  cotton,  wool,  silk  and  other  fibres  entering  into  the  manu- 
factures of  textiles  are  widely  different  in  their  origin,  and  might  be 
considered  separately,  yet  as  soon  as  one  begins  to  discuss  the  manu- 
facture the  subjects  draw  together  and  overlap.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  separating  cotton-making  wholly  from  woollen  manufac- 
ture ;  and  the  same  can  be  said  of  silk.  True,  there  are  cotton-mills, 
woollen-mills,  and  silk-mills;  but  the  goods  that  reach  the  public 
contain  so  many  combinations  of  these  and  other  fibres  that  it  seems 
best  to  consider  them  under  this  general  heading  in  order  to  secure 
an  intelligible  view  of  the  whole  situation. 

The  United  States  stands  second  among  the  countries  of  the 

483 


484 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


world  in  the  cotton  industry,  is  tied  for  third  place  in  woollens,  and 
nearly  tied  for  first  place  in  silk.  Great  Britain  leads  us  in  cotton, 
Great  Britain  and  France  lead  us  in  woollens,  and  France  led  us 
slightly  in  silk  in  1900,  but  it  appears  very  probable  that  in  this  year, 
1904,  we  either  equal  or  excel  her  in  this  industry. 

Cotton  was  the  leading  manufacture  among  textiles  of  the 
United  States  up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  when  it  suffered  a 
decline,  and  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  that 
it  again  came  to  the  front  and  took  precedence  over  wool.    At  this 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


A  Steamer  Laden  with  Cotton. 


writing  the  cotton  industry  stands  above  all  other  textiles  in  capital, 
number  of  persons  engaged,  amount  of  wages  paid,  and  value  of 
products,  though  wool  is  a  little  in  advance  in  the  cost  of  material 
employed.  The  woollen  industry  of  the  United  States  dates  back 
almost  to  the  time  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Wool-carding  can  be 
carried  on  in  a  small  way  that  is  impossible  with  either  cotton  or 
silk,  and  therefore  it  is  made  into  cloth  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the 
globe,  except  those  under  a  torrid  sun.  For  this  reason  our  woollen 
industry  has  always  been  a  considerable  one,  and  has  grown  v/ith 
the  nation  as  a  whole. 

In  1870,  after  the  war,  conditions  had  been  largely  improved, 


COTTON,  WOOL,  AND    TEXTILE    MANUFACTURES 


485 


the  total  consumption  of  the  country  in  cotton,  wool,  and  silk 
amounted  to  $466,000,000,  of  which  we  imported  a  little  over  one- 
sixth.  In  1900  our  consumption  was  $896,000,000,  of  which  we 
imported  but  nine  per  cent.  The  value  of  the  domestic  product  at 
the  present  date,  it  is  safe  to  state,  is  nearly  or  quite  double  what  it 
was  in  1870.  The  largest  part  of  this  growth  is  in  the  cotton  indus- 
try, but  the  greatest  proportional  growth  is  in  silk  manufacture, 
which  amounted  to  only  $12,000,000  in  1870,  and  rose  to  $107,- 
000,000  in  1900.  The  cotton  industry  has  doubled  in  the  value  of 
its  output  and  shown  a  tendency  to  concentrate,  the  improvements 
in  machinery  and  the  costliness  of  plants  tending  to  throw  the  busi- 
ness into  the  larger  manufacturing  plants. 


Mason  Manufacturing  Company's  Loom. 


In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  considerable  growth  also  of 
the  cotton  industry  in  China  and  Japan  and  the  East  Indies,  owing 
to  favorable  conditions  for  cotton  growing ;  and  in  Canada  and 
Mexico  largely  because  of  governmental  assistance.  The  growth  of 
silk  manufacture  in  the  United  States  is  presumed  to  be  due  to  the 
fact  that  general  prosperity  has  caused  a  demand  for  it  as  a  wearing 
material.  We  do  not  raise  silkworms,  but  have  to  import  the  raw 
material,  and  silk  is  not  a  serviceable  dress  material,  having  little  to 
recommend  it  but  its  beauty.  Almost  all  of  our  silk-mills  are  located 
in  five  adjoining  States — Pennsylvania,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts.  Of  the  $395,000,000  worth  of  silk 
produced  by  the  mills  of  the  world  in  1900,  France  made  $122,- 


486  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

000,000,  the  United  States  $92,000,000,  Germany  $73,000,000,  and 
other  countries  minor  quantities.  The  French  method  of  making 
their  figure  does  not  afford  quite  fair  comparison  with  the  United 
States,  and  this,  taken  with  the  known  fact  that  our  silk-mihs  have 
developed  steadily  since  1900,  renders  it  probable  that  we  are  now 
quite  on  a  par  with  France  in  this  article  of  manufacture. 

The  cotton  crop  of  the  United  States  reached  its  largest  pro- 
portions in  the  years  1898  and  1899,  during  each  of  which  over 
1 1,000,000  bales  were  produced,  this  being  about  three-fourths  of 
the  world's  supply.  During  recent  years  our  average  cotton  crop 
has  been  a  little  over  10,000,000  bales  of  500  pounds  each.  Of  this 
we  use  about  forty-five  per  cent.,  and  export  the  remaining  fifty- 
five  per  cent,  to  Great  Britain  and  the  continent.  No  other  country 
approaches  us  in  cotton  growing,  but  when  it  comes  to  cotton  spin- 
ning Great  Britain  can  show  a  trifle  over  two  spindles  to  our  one, 
while  continental  Europe  operates  one  and  a  half  spindles  to  every 
spindle  in  the  United  States.  Texas  is  the  leading  State  in  the  pro- 
duction of  cotton,  Georgia,  Mississippi  and  Alabama  coming  next. 

Statistics  of  the  woollen  industry  are  less  reliable  than  those 
of  silk  and  cotton,  because  the  business  is  in  so  many  small  hands. 
We  use  about  400,000,000  pounds  a  year,  Great  Britain  about 
500,000,000,  and  the  continent  of  Europe  about  1,250,000,000 
pounds.  Great  Britain  stands  first  in  wool  consumption  and  manu- 
facture, then  France,  the  United  States,  Germany  and  Austria  in 
the  order  named.  Great  Britain  probably  not  making  more  than 
thirty  per  cent,  more  than  Austria. 

In  addition  to  the  cotton,  wool,  and  silk  manufactured  prod- 
ucts of  the  United  States,  which  total  up  $745,000,000  for  1900, 
we  manufactured  $95,000,000  of  hosiery  and  knit  goods,  48,- 
000,000  of  flax,  hemp  and  jute,  and  $45,000,000  that  the  census 
classifies  under  the  heading  "  dyeing  and  finishing  textiles."  There 
are  more  than  four  thousand  concerns  engaged  in  the  textile  indus- 
tries of  the  United  States,  which  is  less  than  the  number  in  1870, 
though  the  volume  of  manufacture  has  doubled.  The  tendency  to 
consolidate  in  large  concerns  is  most  conspicuous  in  the  cotton 
branch  of  the  textile  industry,  and  the  average  capital  of  the  thou- 
sand cotton  manufacturing  concerns  in  the  country  is  now  nearly 
half  a  million  dollars  each.  The  total  number  of  wage-earners  in 
all  the  textile  industries  of  the  United  States  in  1900  was  661,451, 
of  whom  half  the  adults  were  women  and  ten  per  cent,  were  chil- 
dren. 

Generally  speaking,  the  manufactories  of  cotton  have  supplied 


Cotton  Machinery. 

I,  L,  Lapping-machine;    O,  opener;     A,  feeder.     2,  Drawing-trame;    3,  slubbing-frame; 

4,  spinning-frame  or  spinning-mule ;  5,  carding-machine. 


488  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

the  bulk  for  home  consumption  since  1825.  Although  we  have  im- 
ported considerable  cotton,  it  has  been  of  sorts  that  our  manufac- 
turers never  undertook  to  make.  Plain  cotton  cloth  constitutes  the 
great  bulk  of  our  manufacture,  and  during  times  when  the  home 
market  has  been  glutted,  our  manufacturers  have  been  able  to  save 
themselves  by  shipping  the  surplus  abroad.  In  1900  we  imported 
cotton  goods  to  the  value  of  $41,000,000  and  exported  to  the  value 
of  $24,000,000,  both  figures  exceeding  any  previous  year. 

Geographically,  our  cotton  industry  belongs  to  the  South,  East, 
and  Middle  States  in  the  order  named.  There  is  practically  no 
cotton  industry  in  the  West.  The  doubling  of  our  cotton  industry 
in  the  past  thirty  years  is  mainly  owing  to  the  great  development 
in  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Alabama  within  the 
past  fifteen  years. 

The  practice  of  mercerizing  cotton  has  much  increased  within 
a  dozen  years  past.  Formerly  cotton  was  mercerized  largely  for 
the  purpose  of  improving  its  fibre  and  increasing  its  strength.  The 
mercerizing  process  consists  in  treating  the  yarn  or  woven  goods 
with  a  solution  of  caustic  soda,  and  then  washing  out  the  soda  with 
dilute  sulphuric  acid  and  water.  The  operation  renders  the  fibre 
smoother  and  more  cylindrical,  but  causes  large  shrinkage,  thus 
reducing  the  quantity  as  measured  by  the  square  yard.  The  reintro- 
duction  of  mercerizing  is  due  to  the  modern  method  of  performing 
the  mercerizing  under  tension,  thus  stopping  the  loss  from  shrink- 
age and  at  the  same  time  securing  the  benefit  of  the  improved  smooth 
fibre.  Cotton  mercerized  under  tension — not  stretched,  but  simply 
held  against  shrinkage — becomes  more  translucent,  has  a  smoother 
surface,  and  acquires  a  lustre  that  suggests  silk,  and  renders  it  more 
salable.  The  value  of  the  United  States  cotton  product  during 
1900  was  increased  $680,000  by  mercerizing. 

The  principal  machines  used  in  cotton  manufacture  are  the 
loom,  developed  mainly  by  Arkwright;  the  scutching-machine,  in- 
vented by  Snodgrass ;  the  carding-machine,  which  owes  its  prin- 
cipal development  to  the  Messrs.  Ashworth,  and  the  spinning-mule, 
invented  by  Crompton  and  developed  by  Roberts.  The  spindle  was 
continually  improved  up  to  the  time  of  the  Rabbeth  spindle,  which 
appears  to  have  attained  the  practical  limit  of  speed,  about  10,000 
turns  a  minute.  During  recent  years  inventors  have  turned  their 
attention  largely  to  the  problem  of  reducing  the  stoppages  of  ma- 
chines, most  of  them  being  made  to  stop  automatically  on  the  break- 
ing of  a  thread  or  the  exhausting  of  a  shuttle.  The  most  con- 
spicuous success  in  new  machinery  since  1895  has  been  the  Northrop 


COTTON,  WOOL,  AND    TEXTILE    MANUFACTURES  489 

loom,  which  inaugurated  two  fundamental  improvements  with  filling- 
changing  mechanisms  and  warp-stopping  devices.  The  former 
reduces  to  a  small  fraction  the  time  needed  to  supply  a  loom  with 
weft,  giving  the  weaver  more  time  to  attend  to  breaks,  and  it  is  also 
practicable  to  use  larger  cops  of  filling  yarn,  so  that  these  do  not  re- 
quire to  be  renewed  as  often. 

The  basic  principle  of  weaving  was  discovered  so  long  ago  that 
its  origin  is  lost.  It  will  be  best  understood  by  describing  a  very 
simple  form  of  loom.  Imagine  a  series  of  two  hundred  threads, 
each  a  hundred  feet  long  and  stretched  parallel,  with  one  set  of 
ends  held  by  one  beam  and  the  other  set  of  ends  held  by  another 
beam.  By  slowly  turning  one  beam,  the  threads  may  be  wound  up 
on  it  and  unwound  from  the  other  beam.  Suppose  a  cross-stick 
between  the  two  beams  with  a  hundred  little  rings  on  it,  and  that 
every  other  thread  passes  through  one  of  these  rings.  The  threads 
represent  the  chain  or  warp,  and  at  one  side  wound  around  a  bobbin 
in  a  shuttle  is  a  long  thread,  which  is  to  form  the  filling,  or  weft, 
or  woof,  as  the  cross-threads  are  called;  the  stick  and  rings  repre- 
sent the  loom  harness.  If  the  cross-stick  with  its  rings  be  raised  a 
few  inches,  every  other  thread  of  the  warp  will  be  raised  also,  and 
the  shuttle  can  be  passed  across  to  the  opposite  side.  If,  then,  the 
cross-stick  be  lowered  to  bring  every  other  thread  down  a  few  inches, 
the  shuttle  may  be  sent  back  again,  this  time  passing  above  the 
threads  that  on  the  previous  passage  were  below  it.  By  repeating 
this  operation  and  advancing  the  warp  slowly,  a  web  of  cloth  is 
formed,  with  the  threads  crossed  in  the  ordinary  manner.  The  part 
of  a  loom  which  we  have  described  as  a  cross-stick  with  rings  is 
technically  called  a  "  dobby,"  and  the  illustration  shows  the  form 
manufactured  by  the  Mason  Machine  Works,  of  Taunton,  Mas- 
sachusetts. This  dobby  operates  on  what  is  called  the  Hattersley 
principle,  and  raises  and  lowers  the  loom-harness. 

To  cross  threads  differently,  so  as  to  form  a  pattern,  the  Jac- 
quard  cards  were  devised.  A  set  of  punctured  cards  is  passed  over 
a  flat-sided  cylinder.  The  arrangement  of  the  holes  in  each  card 
determines  the  position  of  what  corresponds  to  the  rings  on  the 
cross-stick  or  harness  described,  and  results  in  raising  a  thread,  or 
not  raising  it,  as  the  pattern  requires.  By  providing  a  card  for 
every  cross-stroke  of  the  shuttle,  any  desired  pattern  of  weave  can 
be  produced.  A  book  in  imitation  of  a  printed  book  has  even  been 
produced  in  this  way  by  a  German,  and  several  copies  made,  one  of 
which  is  in  the  possession  of  Theodore  L.  De  Vinne,  of  New  York. 

When  the  threads  of  a  fabric  are  interlaced  in  the  simplest  pos- 


490 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


sible  manner,  as  described,  it  is  called  a  plain  weave.  A  twill  is 
produced  by  carrying  the  shuttle  over  one  and  under  two  or  more 
warp-threads,  giving  what  is  called  a  twill  appearance,  or  in  extreme 
cases  a  diagonal  effect.  The  satin  weave  is  produced  by  crossing 
the  threads  a  reduced  number  of  times,  so  as  to  make  the  surface 
as  smooth  as  possible,  the  glossy  face  of  satin  being  obtained  by 
finishing  between  hot  rollers. 

In  pile-weaving  for  carpets  and  the  like,  there  are  two  warps, 
one  of  which  is  regularly  drawn  over  wires  to  form  loops  which 
are  left  in.     Brussels  carpet  has  uncut  pile  and  Wilton  a  cut  pile. 


A  Dobby. 

Cotton  requires  to  be  baled  near  the  place  where  it  is  grown 
and  shipped  to  the  point  where  it  is  to  be  manufactured.  In  order 
to  transport  economically,  it  is  necessary  to  compress  it  tightly, 
because  of  its  bulk,  which  is  greater  for  its  weight  than  that  of 
almost  any  other  common  article  of  freight.  A  railway  car  could 
carry  cotton  most  economically  if  compressed  to  a  weight  of  about 
fifty  pounds  to  the  cubic  foot,  hence  all  excess  over  this  causes  an 
increased  freight  charge.  The  original  compressor  was  a  black 
slave,  using  his  feet  and  a  pounding-bar.     Then  a  condenser  was 


COTTON,  WOOL,  AND    TEXTILE    MANUFACTURES 


491 


made  a  part  of  the  cotton-gin,  this  having  a  screen,  against  which 
the  cotton  was  blown,  the  dirt  passing  through,  and  the  cotton  form- 
ing a  bat  or  layer  that  was  rolled  up  tightly.  Then  a  screw-press 
was  built,  and  usually  operated  by  mule-power,  for  compressing  the 
cotton  as  much  as  possible.  This  was  naturally  followed  by  a 
steam-press,  which  applied  more  power  and  crowded  the  cotton 
closer.  These  steam-presses  have  been  built  to  exert  as  great  a 
pressure  as  6,000,000  pounds  per  bale ;  but  though  this  is  capable 
of  reducing  the  cotton  to  a  density  of  about  sixty  pounds  to  the 
foot,  it  will  not  stay  there  when  baled,  as  the  wrapping  material  is 
not  strong  enough  to  hold  it,  and  steam-pressed  cotton  bales  are 
commonly  made  all  the  way  from  twelve  to  twenty-two  pounds  to 
the  foot. 


Round  Cotton-Bale  and  Press. 

To  improve  the  cotton  bale  the  American  Cotton  Company  de- 
veloped the  cylindrical  bale,  formed  of  a  bat  or  layer  of  cotton, 
wound  on  itself  so  that  the  cotton  tends  to  hold  itself,  each  added 
layer  tending  to  compress  the  interior  layers.  In  their  bat-forming 
and  condensing-machine  the  cotton  is  condensed  by  a  drum,  crowded 
down  between  aprons  and  compressed  between  a  series  of  rollers. 
With  this  machine,  driven  by  twenty-five  horse-power,  bales  have 
been  made  of  a  density  of  eighty-six  pounds  to  the  cubic  foot,  which 
is  about  fifty  per  cent,  greater  solidity  than  oak  wood.  This  method 
of  compression,  forming  a  close  bat  and  winding  it  up  tightly,  of 
course  forms  a  cylindrical  or  round  bale,  as  it  is  generally  called, 
which  form  is  wasteful  in  loading  and  packing  as  compared  with  a 
rectangular  bale;    however,  the  compression  secured   is  so  much 


492 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


greater  finally  that  there  is  a  saving  in  transportation.  The  round 
bale  has  the  advantage  that  it  arrives  at  the  cotton-mill  entirely  pro- 
tected by  bagging  and  without  wires  or  hoops,  the  result  being  a 
reduction  in  the  tare  or  waste  by  dirt.  The  lapped  round  bale  is 
better  for  the  use  of  the  mill,  as  the  material  is  comparatively  clean 
and  in  good  shape,  and  does  not  have  to  go  through  the  breaking 
lapper. 

The  makers  of  round-bale  machinery  claim  that  a  warehouse 
will  hold  forty  per  cent,  more  cotton  in  round  than  in  square  bales, 
and  that  the  danger  from  fire  is  much  less,  as  shown  by  reduced 
insurance  rates.  The  machine  for  round-baling  weighs  about  one- 
twentieth  that  of  a  square-baling  press,  the  gain  coming  from  the 
fact  that  the  compression  is  done  in  detail  rather  than  in  bulk.  As 
commonly  made,  the  round  bale  is  thirty-five  inches  long,  twenty- 
one  inches  in  diameter,  and  weighs  250  pounds,  giving  a  density  of 
thirty-five  pounds  to  the  foot. 

In  1900  there  were  1414  woollen  manufactories  in  the  United 
States,  having  a  capitalization  of  $310,000,000  and  employing 
160,000  persons,  of  whom  a  little  over  half  were  men.  The  value 
of  the  product  they  turned  out  was  $296,000,000.  The  largest  busi- 
ness is  carried  on  in  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania, 
Rhode  Island  and  New  York,  in  the  order  named ;  these  four  States 
manufacturing  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  whole  nation's  product. 

The  worsted  industry  of  the  United  States  has  grown  very  fast 
since  1870.  Combing-machines  are  used  for  making  worsteds,  and 
the  census  returns  show  that  the  number  of  these  in  use  has  doubled 
about  every  eleven  years,  so  that  in  1900  there  were  1451  combing- 
machines  in  the  country,  as  against  261  in  1870.  Card-wool  manu- 
facture has  decreased  in  consequence,  owing  to  the  substitution  of 
worsted  cassimeres  and  coatings  for  woollen  cassimeres,  broadcloth, 
and  the  like.  As  a  result  of  this  change  in  public  taste,  the  last  cen- 
sus disclosed  the  fact  that  there  were  117  mills  standing  idle,  with 
$5,000,000  of  capital  invested.  The  manufacture  of  woollens,  as 
a  whole,  however,  showed  a  gain  of  $64,000,000  in  capitalization 
between  1890  and  1900. 

The  census  figures  throw  considerable  light  on  the  question  of 
how  much  of  our  clothing  is  "  all  wool."  In  the  manufacture  of 
564,000,000  pounds  of  woollen  goods  the  makers  reported  to  the 
government  that  they  employed  (as  shown  by  the  final  averages 
taken)  seventy  per  cent,  of  wool,  seventeen  per  cent,  of  cotton,  and 
twelve  per  cent,  of  shoddy.  This  shoddy  is  often  made  of  mill 
waste,  clippings,  etc.,  and  cheap  animal  hair  of  any  sort.     Its  use  is 


COTTON,  WOOL,  AND    TEXTILE    MANUFACTURES  493 

not  altogether  an  evil.  It  cannot  readily  be  introduced  in  worsted 
goods,  so  that  the  most  of  it  goes  into  card-wool,  which  contains 
on  an  average  twenty-two  per  cent,  of  shoddy.  The  use  of  cotton 
and  shoddy  makes  possible  the  production  of  certain  light-weight 
low-cost  fabrics  that  are  in  demand  with  the  public,  and  which  are 
of  some  advantage  to  those  who  want  a  good-looking  suit  without 
caring  so  much  for  its  enduring  qualities.  It  is  of  interest  to  note 
that  the  average  cost  of  cotton-warp  goods,  sold  as  tweeds,  cassi- 
meres,  doeskins,  jeans,  etc.,  in  1900  was  27.7  cents  a  yard,  while  all- 
wool  worsted  coatings,  suitings  and  overcoatings  averaged  eighty 
cents  a  yard,  these  figures,  of  course,  being  manufacturers'  costs. 

The  silk  industry  of  the  United  States  was  comparatively  small 
previous  to  1880,  from  which  time  it  has  developed  rapidly  under  a 
restrictive  tariff  and  enterprising  manufacture.  In  1880  there  were 
$19,000,000  of  capital  invested,  and  the  product  of  that  year  was 
$41,000,000.  In  1900,  with  a  capital  of  $81,000,000,  the  product 
was  $107,000,000  worth  of  silk,  made  up  from  $62,000,000  worth 
of  material.  Employment  is  given  to  65,000  wage-earners,  of 
whom  nearly  two-thirds  were  women  and  children.  In  1880  we 
made  but  thirty-eight  per  cent,  of  the  silk  worn  by  Americans ;  in 
1890  the  percentage  increased  to  fifty-five,  and  to-day  only  one- 
fourth  of  our  silks  are  foreign  made.  Of  this  twenty-five  per  cent, 
many  are  silk  velvets,  hand-made  silk  laces  and  very  light  Japanese 
silks  that  are  not  made  here,  so  that  of  standard  silk  goods  our  own 
manufacturers  now  produce  probably  five-sixths  of  what  is  worn 
here. 

The  principal  features  of  silk  manufacture  development  during 
recent  years  may  be  enumerated  as  follows : 

1.  The  making  of  silk  taffetas  by  power  looms,  in  both  black 
and  colors.  This  development  is  to  the  credit  of  the  United  States, 
as  it  was  first  accomplished  here  and  pushed  to  success  before  being 
taken  up  by  European  manufacturers.  At  least  half  the  product 
of  American  silk-looms  is  on  taffeta  goods.  . 

2.  The  making  by  American  mills  on  Jacquard  looms  of  fancy 
checks,  stripes,  and  figured  goods,  formerly  imported  from  France 
and  Switzerland,  and  supplying  the  home  market  with  a  class  of 
fancy  makes  unexcelled  by  the  importations. 

3.  The  taking  of  the  home  market  for  piece-dyed  and  printed 
silks,  and  of  goods  woven  with  raw-silk  warps.  There  has  been 
great  enterprise  and  progress  in  these  branches  of  the  silk  industry 
in  the  United  States,  and  close  competition  with  foreign  manufac- 
turers has  led  to  the  development  of  improved  machinery  and  the 
practice  of  many  economies  in  making. 


494 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


France  has  been  the  world's  leader  in  silks  for  many  genera- 
tions, and  it  is  significant  that  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1900 
American  black  silks  took  gold  medals  for  superior  weave  and 
finish,  and  that  warp-print  silks  were  similarly  honored.  We  seem 
now  to  have  caught  up  with  France  in  the  manufacture  and  to  be 
in  a  fair  way  to  lead  in  this  industry. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  where  the  manufacture  of  textiles  can  be 
improved.  As  far  as  woven  goods  are  concerned,  invention  has 
surely  approached  close  to  the  limit  of  perfection.  If  the  future 
shall  develop  garments  of  paper  or  some  construction  made  in  a 
similarly  cheap  way,  the  time  may  come  when  the  history  of  textiles 
will  have  to  be  rewritten ;   but  that  day  has  not  yet  dawned. 


REVOLUTION    IN    METHODS    OF    GLASS-MAKING 

Glass  is  one  of  the  oldest  industries,  having  been  made  in 
Egypt  as  long  ago  as  2500  B.C.  Though  one  of  the  commonest 
articles  of  civilized  existence,  few  persons  outside  of  the  trade 
understand  what  it  is  made  of.  Strictly  speaking,  it  is  a  compound 
of  silica  (sand)  and  at  least  two  metallic  oxides,  one  of  which  may 
be  soda,  and  the  other  lime  or  lead.  The  most  common  mixture 
includes  good,  white,  clear,  fine  sand,  and  what  is  known  as  soda- 
ash  and  lime. 

The  first  glass  factory  in  America  was  established  at  James- 
town, Va.,  in  1608;  these  works  were  destroyed  at  the  Jamestown 
massacre  in  1622.  Another  factory  was  established  at  Salem, 
Mass.,  in  1639,  and  many  other  small  concerns  made  glass  at  dif- 
ferent points  in  the  country  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.  About  1820  the  business  of  the  New  England  Glass 
Company  at  East  Cambridge,  Mass.,  began  to  assume  fair  com- 
mercial proportions,  and  they  may  be  regarded  as  the  real  founders 
of  the  flint-glass  industry  in  New  England.  The  prosperity  of 
this  concern  reached  its  height  about  the  close  of  the  Civil  War, 
when  they  were  operating  five  furnaces  of  ten  pots  each,  giving 
employment  to  about  500  men  and  boys.  The  Bakewell  concern 
in  Pittsburg,  which  was  established  in  1808,  led  the  trade  in  flint 
glass  in  that  section  for  more  than  half  a  century.  About  i860 
the  Western  manufacturers  began  to  cut  into  the  business  of  the 
Eastern  glass-works  with  what  was  popularly  called  lime-glass, 
being  made  of  a  bicarbonate  of  soda  and  lime  in  the  place  of  the 
lead  and  pearl  ash  used  in  the  East. 

Pennsylvania  now  leads  all  other  States  in  glass  manufacturing, 
having  119  of  the  355  factories  of  the  country.  Indiana  comes  next 
with  no  factories,  but  she  is  not  so  close  to  Pennsylvania  as  these 
figures  would  imply,  owing  to  the  great  size  and  capacity  of  the 
works  around  Pittsburg.  The  glass  output  of  Pennsylvania  is 
forty-five  per  cent,  of  the  country's  total.  Ohio  was  formerly  a 
prominent  State  in  the  industry,  but  lost  trade  when  the  natural  gas 
gave  out  there,  many  concerns  moving  to  Indiana,  where  natural- 
gas  facilities  were  often  offered  free  as  an  inducement  to  manu- 
facturers to  locate. 

495 


496  MODERN  INDUSTRIAL  PROGRESS 

The  manufacture  of  glass  in  South  Jersey  was  started  in  Salem 
County  in  1775,  and  remains  the  most  prominent  industry  of  that 
section  to-day.  Inexhaustible  quantities  of  fine  sand  and  cheap 
wood  for  fuel  favored  the  development  of  glass-making  there ;  the 
wood  is  now  gone,  but  the  sand  remains,  enabling  this  section  to 
hold  its  own  fairly  well  against  the  natural-gas  region,  which  has 
secured  the  major  part  of  the  glass-works  of  the  country. 

The  greatest  period  of  growth  of  the  glass  industry  of  the 
United  States  was  between  1880  and  1890,  when  the  production 
was  nearly  doubled.  During  the  decade  ending  in  1900  the  product 
increased  but  37.7  per  cent. 

The  capital  invested  in  the  glass  industry  of  the  United  States 
in  1850  was  $3,400,000,  divided  among  ninety-four  concerns;  this 
swelled  to  $41,000,000  in  1890  and  $61,000,000  in  1900,  or  an 
average  of  $172,000  per  manufacturing  company.  The  industry 
gave  employment  to  less  than  6000  persons  fifty  years  ago,  who 
received  $2,000,000  annually  in  wages  and  salaries ;  now  there  are 
55,000  workers  in  the  industry,  among  whom  $30,000,000  is  an- 
nually divided.  The  glass  made  in  1850  sold  for  $4,641,000,  and 
that  made  in  1900  for  $57,000,000.  The  largest  single  item  of 
cost,  next  to  wages,  is  now  the  $3,200,000  annually  paid  by  the 
glass  factories  for  natural-gas  fuel ;  soda-ash  comes  next,  costing 
$2,259,000  in  1900.  The  total  amount  of  soda-ash  used  in  that 
year  was  158,000  tons,  the  cost  per  ton  being  $14.32,  as  against 
$32.12  in  1890.  Thus,  while  the  manufacturers  consumed  sixty- 
three  per  cent,  more  soda-ash  in  the  latter  year,  they  paid  for  it  about 
$800,000  less  than  they  paid  in  1890.  This  most  satisfactory  result 
was  brought  about  principally  through  the  efforts  of  J.  B.  Ford, 
a  veteran  glass  manufacturer,  who  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years 
reconstructed  for  the  second  time  a  soda-ash  factory  in  the  endeavor 
to  produce  an  American  ash  that  would  supersede  the  ash  then 
imported  from  Europe.  His  success  has  been  a  great  benefit  to 
American  manufacturers.  Mr.  Ford  was  also  one  of  those  instru- 
mental in  consolidating  several  of  the  Pittsburg  glass-works. 

Glass  manufacturing  is  naturally  divided  into  three  classes — 
the  window-glass  trade,  the  plate-glass  trade,  and  the  trade  in  bot- 
tles and  jars.  The  value  of  the  window-glass  made  in  the  United 
States  in  1900  was  about  $11,000,000,  and  the  annual  consumption 
of  the  country  is  about  5,500,000  boxes.  This  branch  of  the  in- 
dustry has  undergone  considerable  change  during  recent  years, 
owing  to  the  introduction  of  the  continuous-tank  furnace  instead 
of  the  pot  furnace.      Probably  more  than  half  the  window-glass 


REVOLUTION    IN    METHODS    OF    GLASS-MAKING  497 

manufacturers  of  the  country  have  changed  their  equipment  and 
installed  the  new  style  furnaces.  It  costs  more  than  the  old  arrange- 
ment with  pots,  but  the  glass  is  produced  more  economically.  The 
continuous  tank  is  being  used  also  in  the  manufacture  of  bottles  and 
jars.  In  1900  the  census  showed  that  there  were  5000  glass  pots  in 
use  and  363  continuous  tanks,  having  about  the  same  capacity  as 
5000  glass  pots.  The  first  to  use  the  continuous-tank  system  was 
the  Chambers  &  McKee  Company,  which  introduced  it  in  1889;  in 
1892  they  built  a  larger  factory  at  New  Kensington,  near  Pittsburg, 
in  which  are  two  continuous  tanks,  each  130  feet  long.  These  turn 
out  600  boxes  of  single-strength  window-glass  every  twenty-four 
hours. 

Probably  the  largest  flint-bottle  works  in  the  country  is  the 
establishment  of  Whitall,  Tatum  &  Co.,  Millville,  N.  J.,  which  was 
established  in  i860.  The  most  important  improvement  in  the  bot- 
tle trade  during  recent  years  is  the  manufacture  of  jars  and  wide- 
mouthed  bottles  with  machines  instead  of  blowing  them  by  man- 
power, as  has  been  the  custom  for  many  thousand  years  previous. 
It  required  many  years  of  experimentation  to  perfect  the  machines 
for  blowing  jars  and  bottles,  and  it  was  formerly  a  common  opin- 
ion in  the  glass  trade  that  machines  could  never  blow  the  glass 
successfully,  because  the  work  required  a  certain  amount  of  human 
intelligence  and  judgment.  Nevertheless,  the  machine  conquered 
about  1895,  and  has  come  into  use  for  wide-mouthed  articles,  though 
it  cannot  be  used  for  narrow-necked  bottles.  The  old-time  glass- 
blower,  with  the  puffy  cheeks  and  the  gathering  rod,  is  losing  his 
occupation.  The  new  bottle-blowing  mechanism  is  thus  described 
by  Shirley  P.  Austin,  expert  special  agent  of  the  United  States  Cen- 
sus Bureau,  in  a  special  bulletin  issued  concerning  the  glass  in- 
dustry : 

"  In  1896  an  American  combined  the  consolidated  mould  and  rotary  table. 
On  a  rotary  table  is  placed  a  series  of  fine  separate,  duplicate,  double  moulds,  each 
mould  containing  an  outer  blow-section,  having  a  ring  integral  with  it  in  which 
the  neck  of  the  article  is  pressed,  and  a  telescopic  press-section  rising  within 
the  blow-section  and  receiving  the  glass,  forming,  with  the  neck  of  the  blow- 
section,  a  press-mould.  The  glass  is  dropped  into  the  combined  mould  when 
in  this  press-mould  position,  and  the  table  rotated,  bringing  the  mould  under 
the  plunger,  which  enters  it  and  presses  the  neck  and  wind-cavity  into  the 
dependent  mass  of  glass.  The  plunger  is  withdrawn,  and  another  rotation  of 
the  table  brings  the  mould  under  the  blow-stem,  the  telescopic  press  section  of 
the  combined  mould  having  dropped  in  the  mean  time,  exposing  the  glass-blank 
within  the  blow-section.  The  bottom  plate  is  inserted  and  the  air  admitted  to 
expand  the  glass-blank  to  the  form  of  the  blow-mould.  The  next  rotation  of 
the  table  brings  the  mould  to  where  it  is  opened  by  a  boy  and  the  finished  article 
is  taken  out  and  removed  to  the  annealing  oven." 

32 


Courtesy  The  Glass  Buclijet. 


Glass-Bottle-Making  Machine. 


REVOLUTION    IN    METHODS    OF    GLASS-MAKING  499 

The  gain  in  making  bottles  by  machine  instead  of  employing 
a  man  to  do  the  blowing  is  very  much  greater  than  the  saving  of  the 
man's  time  and  exertion.  The  blowing-machine  has  already  reached 
a  point  where  it  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  saving  one  man's  labor, 
the  latest  mechanism  aiming  to  make  four  to  eight  bottles  at  one 
time.  This  must  result  soon  in  great  increase  in  the  capacity  of 
bottle  factories.  There  is  practically  no  limit  to  production,  as 
the  great  tank  furnaces  can  furnish  hundreds  of  tons  of  glass 
within  the  hours  of  a  working-day.  The  more  machines  a  factory 
puts  in  the  more  bottles  it  can  turn  out,  whereas  under  old  methods 
only  a  limited  number  of  blowers  could  work  around  a  furnace. 

The  manufacture  of  plate-glass  in  America  was  largely  experi- 
mental up  to  about  1875;  ^^  1880  there  were  three  factories  in  the 
country,  the  most  important  being  the  American  Plate  Glass  Com- 
pany, of  Crystal  City,  Mo.,  which  began  business  in  1872,  carry- 
ing the  new  industry  to  a  most  successful  issue.  The  American 
product  of  plate-glass  is  now  valued  at  between  $6,000,000  and 
$7,000,000  annually.  The  principal  improvement  introduced  in 
plate-glass  manufacturing  in  American  practice  is  the  annealing 
lehr,  of  which  1350  were  in  use  in  the  census  year  of  1900.  This 
lehr  is  built  about  200  feet  in  length,  starting  from  the  casting-table 
as  a  continuous  series  of  five  kilns,  and  then  continuing  in  the  form 
of  the  usual  rod  lehr,  as  used  in  window-glass  factories.  These  five 
stations  rest  at  the  outset  on  a  solid  clay  hearth ;  they  are  electrically 
lighted  and  the  different  degrees  of  heat  are  readily  maintained. 
The  plate  enters  the  first  station  in  a  molten  condition,  but  is  set 
before  it  passes  out  of  the  fifth  station  to  the  rod  lehrs.  An  anneal- 
ing lehr  such  as  that  described,  of  ninety-six  pot  capacity,  costs  about 
$20,000,  so  that  less  cost  and  less  space  are  involved  with  these  lehrs 
than  with  the  old  kiln  system. 

In  the  process  of  grinding  plate-glass  there  is  now  used  a  patent 
table  for  reducing  the  temperature.  This  is  accomplished  by  a  cir- 
culation of  water  under  the  table  during  the  process  of  grinding, 
and  because  this  keeps  down  the  heat  the  grinding  and  polishing 
can  be  done  at  much  higher  speed.  It  was  formerly  necessary  to 
turn  the  glass  after  grinding  on  one  side  and  grind  the  other  side 
before  doing  any  polishing.  The  use  of  the  new  transfer-table  per- 
mits the  entire  grinding  and  polishing  of  one  side  of  the  plate-glass 
before  operating  on  the  other  side.  This  saves  much  time,  as  only 
one  turning  of  the  glass  is  now  necessary,  and  turning  is  a  tedious 
process  because  the  glass  has  to  be  carefully  set  in  a  bed  of  plaster. 

The  polished  bevel-plate  mirror  is  no  longer  very  costly,  but 


500 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


finds  its  way  into  the  homes  of  people  of  modest  means.  Rough 
or  corrugated  plate-glass,  often  colored  and  known  as  cathedral 
glass,  is  sold  at  a  very  moderate  figure,  and  used  in  door  and  win- 
dow openings  where  it  is  desired  to  admit  light  but  obstruct  vision. 

What  is  known  as  cut  glass  is  the  most  costly  product  in  this 
field  of  industry.     The  imitation  is  made  by  pressing  or  forming 


urtesy  Popular  Mechanics. 


Glass-Cutting. 


in  a  mould,  but  the  real  cut  glass  is  produced  by  cutting  and  polish- 
ing wheels  driven  under  the  direction  of  an  expert  operator. 
Pitchers,  bowls,  carafes,  goblets,  and  a  variety  of  glass  articles  for 
the  dining-table  or  dressing-table  are  made  of  cut  glass.  The  dish 
is  first  moulded  in  the  same  manner  as  a  cheap  glass  dish,  and  a 
number  of  lines  are  then  marked  on  the  glass  with  either  resin,  red 
lead,  or  the  like,  these  serving  to  guide  the  eye  of  the  cutter,  who 


REVOLUTION    IN    METHODS    OF    GLASS-MAKING  501 

usually  forms  a  pattern  without  other  assistance,  although  very- 
intricate  patterns  are  sometimes  scratched  on  the  glass.  The  first 
wheels  used  for  cutting  are  termed  roughing-wheels,  and  are  made 
of  wrought  iron  or  copper.  The  cutter  holds  the  dish  against  the 
wheel,  using  moistened  sand  to  assist  the  cutting,  and  water  to  keep 
the  work  cool.  Several  forms  of  wheels  are  used,  the  most  common 
being  mitre-wheels,  with  which  the  favorite  diamond  pattern  is 
produced.  At  the  end  of  this  cutting  the  glass  appears  dull  and 
lustreless,  and  requires  to  be  polished  with  wheels  made  of  a  special 
stone,  or  of  wood  or  felt.  In  this  polishing  process  powdered  putty 
is  used  to  assist  the  work.  With  these  simple  tools  the  expert  glass- 
cutter  produces  the  prismy  surfaces  so  much  admired  in  cut  glass, 
and  which  give  it  an  iridescence  second  only  to  that  of  the  diamond. 


TENDENCY  OF  MODERN  ARCHITECTURE 

Architecture  is  the  oldest  of  human  avocations.  The  lake- 
dwellers  and  cave-dwellers  built  roofs  and  wind-shields  as  well  as 
floors  before  they  learned  how  to  weave  clothing.  As  men  became 
more  skilled,  they  built  huts,  then  stone  castles,  and  finally  houses, 
palaces,  churches,  etc.  The  architects  of  the  Middle  Ages,  whose 
taste  gave  us  the  five  orders  of  architecture — Greek,  Roman,  Corin- 
thian, Doric  and  Gothic — built  mainly  in  stone.  The  multiplicity 
of  modern  materials  defies  all  restraints  as  to  orders  or  architectural 
rules,  and  we  see  buildings  composed  of  features  belonging  to  any 
or  all  of  the  known  orders,  with  all  sorts  of  additions  and  variations 
developed  by  modern  needs  or  constructive  ingenuity. 

The  man  who  designs  buildings  is  called  an  architect,  but  mod- 
ern structures  involve  so  many  ramifications  that  no  one  man  can 
master  them  all,  any  more  than  one  man  could  erect  all  the  large 
buildings  in  a  great  city.  There  are  architects  who  make  a  business 
of  designing  steel  office  buildings ;  others  who  design  factories, 
mills,  electric  plants,  etc. ;  others  who  confine  themselves  to  brick 
and  stone  construction,  as  of  rows  of  city  dwellings,  flat-houses,  and 
apartment-houses;  others  who  find  a  field  of  work  in  designing 
detached  residences,  which  are  mainly  of  wood ;  and  there  are  some 
who  have  been  able  to  secure  a  line  of  work  in  designing  dwellings 
for  the  rich,  which  would  be  called  palaces  in  almost  any  other 
country  than  America.  There  are  so  many  kinds  and  classes  of 
buildings,  and  the  modern  architect  has  so  many  kinds  of  materials 
to  use,  that  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  classify  the  work  according 
to  the  historic  orders.  The  buyer  of  a  fine  dwelling  nowadays  is 
satisfied  when  it  meets  his  ideas  of  beauty,  arrangement,  size,  and 
price,  without  asking  whether  it  is  Corinthian,  or  Venetian,  or  Com- 
posite, or  Colonial. 

Building  construction  in  the  United  States  during  the  first  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century  showed  very  little  originality,  the  work 
of  native  architects  being  largely  copies  of  English  designs.  There 
has  been  developed  in  the  Eastern  States  the  style  that  has  come  to 
be  known  as  Colonial — a  style  that  is  easily  recognized,  but  hard 
to  describe,  and  which  seems  to  have  grown  out  of  the  ability  of 
the  architects  to  secure  shingles  easier  than  other  building  material. 
It  may  be  said  that  architecture  was  taken  up  seriously  in  the  United 

502 


1 


Fisher's  Building,  Chicago. 


504 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


States  about  1856,  that  being  the  date  of  the  organization  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Architects.  This  organization  has  certainly 
exercised  a  most  valuable  influence  in  the  direction  of  more  sightly 
buildings,  as  well  as  practical  constructions  for  commercial  pur- 
poses. This  influence  has  made  itself  felt  mainly  in  diversity,  an 
effort  being  made  to  avoid  the  dreary  uniformity  that  comes  from 
building  row  after  row  of  houses  on  the  same  plan,  especially  in 
crowded  cities,  where  there  is  a  tendency  to  build  structures  straight 
to  the  street  line,  and  of  a  uniform  height,  with  very  little  variation 
in  appearance.     The  architect  has  fought  against  the  commercial 


Dufferin  Gate,  Quebec. 


instinct  that  sometimes  prompted  this  uniformity,  and  in  the  newly- 
built  sections  of  our  large  cities  the  diversity  is  more  marked  to-day 
than  it  ever  was.  A  conspicuous  illustration  of  a  successful  effort 
to  keep  away  from  the  tedious  repetition  of  old  styles  was  observed 
in  the  rebuilding  of  that  part  of  Boston  destroyed  by  the  great  fire 
of  1872,  where  the  new  buildings  were  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
older  and  less  sightly  structures  built  in  seemingly  endless  repe- 
tition. 

The  Capitol  at  Washington  was  the  first  effort  of  any  impor- 
tance in  America  to  construct  a  pretentious  building.  It  was  begim 
in  1793,  and,  owing  to  numerous  stoppages  of  the  work,  was  not 
completed  till  seventy-two  years  later.      Its   modern  construction 


TENDENCY  OF  MODERN  ARCHITECTURE 


505 


really  dates  from  1861,  when  it  was  redesigned,  and  the  work  car- 
ried out  with  some  system.  While  it  is  a  large  and  imposing  build- 
ing, it  has  been  subjected  to  severe  criticism  by  many  prominent 
architects,  and  doubtless  it  is  very  faulty  from  a  twentieth-century 
point  of  view.  The  white  marble  of  the  wing  is  from  Lee,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  red  sandstone  of  the  main  building  of  local  origin. 
I  say  red,  although  it  has  so  long  been  painted  white  that  most  people 
are  unaware  of  the  nature  of  the  material.  The  dome  is  of  cast 
iron,  painted  white  to  match  the  stonework,  and,  considering  the 
little  advance  that  had  been  made  in  iron  construction  at  that  date, 
it  is  a  very  creditable  affair. 


New  York  Stock  Exchange,  Interior. 

The  government  at  Washington  has  maintained  salaried  archi- 
tects to  design  and  supervise  the  public  buildings  for  the  past 
seventy-five  years,  but  their  work  has  been  so  handicapped  by  politi- 
cal influences  that  they  have  never  done  anything  noteworthy. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  there  are  about  13,000,000  buildings 
or  houses  in  the  United  States,  and  that  12,000,000  of  these  are 
built  of  wood,  indicating  how  completely  wood  dominates  in  build- 
ing construction.  The  wooden  house  is  the  house  for  the  million, 
the  stone  or  steel  construction  being  for  the  few  who  have  means 
to  build  better.  Wood  also  enters  very  largely  into  the  interior 
work  of  all  classes  of  buildings.     The  great  progress  made  by  the 


5o6 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


planing-mills  in  producing  wood  mouldings  by  machinery,  and  also 
special  machines  for  forming  all  the  standard  sizes  and  shapes  of 
wood  that  are  used  in  dwellings,  has  both  cheapened  and  improved 
the  material  that  goes  into  our  houses.  Another  great  advance  has 
come  from  the  introduction  and  general  use  of  ready  mixed  paints, 
through  which  it  is  possible  to  obtain  at  any  time  any  convenient 
quantity  of  given  colors  with  an  assurance  that  the  colors  will  always 
be  uniform.  The  substitution  of  wire-cloth,  often  called  wire-lath, 
for  wood-lath  is  steadily  increasing,  adding  to  the  strength  and 
durability  of  interior  walls  and  partitions,  as  well  as  reducing  the 


---* 


Museum  of  Art,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

liability  to  fire.  The  wire-cloth  holds  the  plaster  of  a  wall  often 
better  than  the  wooden  lath,  and  is  more  easily  and  quickly  nailed 
to  the  scantling. 

It  is  not  many  years  since  all  brick  houses  were  of  the  dull  red 
color  which  has  become  so  unpleasantly  familiar,  and  the  intro- 
duction and  constantly  increasing  use  of  light-colored  brick  has  been 
a  real  artistic  boon  everywhere,  tending  to  relieve  the  gloomy  mo- 
notony of  rows  and  rows  of  red  brick  houses.  The  increased  use 
of  terra-cotta  has  also  tended  to  diversify  the  appearance  of  dwell- 
ing-houses. 

During  the  past  twenty-five  years  American-made  plate-glass 
and  American  marbles  have  continuously  increased  in  use  in  the 


TENDENCY    OF    MODERN    ARCHITECTURE 


507 


buildings  of  the  country,  having  practically  driven  out  the  foreign 
products.  The  beautifully  variegated  marbles  of  Tennessee  and  the 
purple  slates  of  Vermont  have  been  combined  with  hard  polished 
woods  and  plate-glass  mirrors  in  countless  forms  of  mantels  and 
fireplaces  for  beautifying  interiors. 

Sheet-iron  cornices  for  the  top  fronts,  especially  of  business 
buildings,  have  come  into  most  extended  use,  adding  greatly  to 
the  appearance  at  small  cost.  Sheet-steel  ceilings  are  also  manu- 
factured, having  obvious  merits ;  skylights  are  now  commonly  made 
with  iron  frames,  instead  of  the'  old  pattern  of  clumsy  wooden 
frames,  with  the  result  that  they  hold  the  glass  much  more  positively 
and  are  less  subject  to  leakage. 


East  Entrance,  Capitol  at  Waslnngloii,  I).  C. 

While  no  buildings  are  wholly  fireproof,  in  the  broadest  sense 
of  the  word,  yet  the  modern  buildings  of  steel,  concrete,  stone,  brick, 
and  glass  are  a  close  approach  to  the  desired  object.  What  is  known 
as  the  flat  arch,  used  in  forming  the  ceilings  in  these  buildings,  has 
more  to  do  with  checking  the  progress  of  a  fire  than  any  other  one 
feature  of  construction.  The  steel  ceiling  beams  are  in  section  the 
form  of  an  I.  Advantage  is  taken  of  the  little  ledges  at  the  lower 
edge  of  the  beams  to  support  the  flattened  arch,  usually  made  of 
terra-cotta,  giving  considerable  supporting  strength,  and  at  the  same 
time  cutting  off  flames,  which  might  burn  through  almost  any  other 
form  of  ceiling.  Since  the  Baltimore  fire  of  1903  architects  are 
preferring  concrete  to  terra-cotta  for  flat  arches  and  other  uses. 


5o8 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  modern  builder  and  constructor  has  very  much  improved 
means  of  handhng  the  material  used  in  putting  up  a  building.  We 
now  seldom  see  the  hod-carrier  going  up  a  line  of  ladders  with  a 
hod  of  mortar  or  bricks  on  his  shoulder;  instead  there  are  portable 
elevators  for  hoisting  the  material  to  the  place  where  it  is  wanted, 
and  derricks  and  hoists  of  all  sorts  are  used  for  saving  manual 
labor.  In  the  construction  of  the  larger  buildings  erecting  plants 
are  employed,  so  that  everything  is  handled  very  much  as  it  would 


Flat-iron  Building,  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 

be  in  a  large  manufacturing  works  with  the  least  expenditure  of 
effort  and  time. 

A  feature  of  modern  American  building  construction  is  the  in- 
creased use  of  Portland  cement  usually  in  connection  with  steel. 
The  price  of  cement  has  been  gradually  reduced  for  a  number  of 
years  until  it  has  become  generally  cheaper  than  stone  construction, 
and  in  many  cases  cheaper  than  brick,  while  if  well  made  it  is  quite 
as  good  as  the  best  stone.  Portland  cement  for  building  purposes 
is  composed  of  one  part  cement,  three  parts  of  sand,  and  five  parts 


TENDENCY  OF  MODERN  ARCHITECTURE 


509 


of  broken  stone;  this  is  very  suitable  for  protecting  steel  con- 
struction and  filling  in  the  spaces  between  pillars  and  girders.  The 
cement  can  be  laid  directly  on  the  steel ;  if  the  latter  has  been  pre- 
viously cleaned,  it  does  not  even  require  to  be  painted.  The  com- 
bination of  steel  and  cement  is  very  desirable  from  the  point  of  view 
of  insurance  against  fire,  and  when  generally  employed  will  materi- 
ally reduce  insurance  rates.  Floor-beams  and  joists  made  of  cement 
in  the  form  of  hollow  tubes  enclosing  steel  braces  are  a  new  article 
of  manufacture  likely  to  come  into  general  use. 

Slag  cement  is  also  coming  into  increased  use,  there  being  nine 
plants  manufacturing  it  in  the  United  States  in  1901.     Slag  is  a 


state  House,  Boston,  Massachusetts. 


product  of  the  blast-furnace,  resulting  from  a  mixture  of  limestone 
and  iron  ore.  It  is  of  no  value  to  the  iron  manufacturer,  and  vast 
piles  of  it  are  accumulated  near  the  blast-furnaces.  When  this  slag 
is  suddenly  cooled,  then  dried,  and  mixed  with  one-fourth  part  of 
slaked  lime,  it  makes  a  fine  material  for  cement.  The  slag  is  also 
made  into  brick,  which  can  be  made  much  harder  and  stronger  than 
the  ordinary  clay  brick.  Germany  appears  to  be  ahead  of  America 
in  recognizing  the  advantages  of  slag-cement  and  slag-bricks,  having 
established  manufactories  before  we  did. 

The  construction  of  steel  buildings  began  to  attract  attention 
in  New  York  City  about  1890,  at  which  date  a  few  large  steel  struc- 


5IO 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


tures  had  been  erected  and  promised  to  be  commercially  successful. 
The  primary  idea  in  constructing  a  large  and  tall  business  building 
of  steel  was  to  secure  a  higher  rental  from  a  valuable  space  of 
ground  than  could  be  secured  from  a  brick  or  stone  building,  whose 
natural  limit  is  about  six  or  seven  stories.  After  a  few  of  these 
tall  business  buildings  had  been  erected,  it  became  evident  that  they 
had  other  advantages  than  height  and  increased  floor-space.  Ten- 
ants crowded  into  them  and  were  willing  to  pay  a  higher  price  for 
offices  than  they  would  pay  in  brick  buildings.     They  liked  the 


Interior  of  Library,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 


appearance  of  the  structures,  and  the  increased  light  and  air  obtained, 
and  also  found  a  benefit  in  being  under  the  same  roof  with  a  large 
number  of  other  concerns.  In  a  big  business  building  a  tenant  can 
always  find  a  telegraph  office,  public  telephone  station,  stationery 
store,  barber-shop,  typewriting  bureau,  and  often  a  restaurant,  be- 
sides a  mail-tube  and  many  other  small  conveniences. 

The  steel  used  in  these  big  business  buildings  is  what  is  known 
as  mild  structural  steel,  and  is  rolled  in  the  mills  in  the  form  of 
I-beams,  L's,  Z's,  etc.,  these  being  punched  with  holes  and  riveted 
together  to  form  the  skeleton  of  the  building.  All  the  steel  parts 
are  made  to  size  at  the  mills,  the  contractor  and  builder  having 


TENDENCY  OF  MODERN  ARCHITECTURE 


511 


simply  to  put  them  together.  This  is  done  with  an  erecting  plant, 
having  stout  cranes  and  hoisting  machines  for  carrying  the  steel 
beams  to  the  positions  where  they  are  to  be  riveted  together.  As 
the  frame  goes  up,  the  erecting  plant  is  carried  up  with  it  to  the 
topmost  story.  After  the  steel-work  is  well  started,  stone,  brick, 
terra-cotta,  or  cement  is  used  to  protect  the  steel  from  the  weather. 
The  lower  floors  of  a  building  are  often  covered  on  the  outside  with 
stone,  thus  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  stone  building;  a  little 
higher  up  brick  or  terra-cotta  is  employed,  resting  on  the  stone  up 
to  about  the  sixth  story;    above  that  point  the  brick-work  is  sup- 


I'lyniuuUi  Cuiigregalioiial  Church,  Ciucimiali,  Ohio. 

ported  by  the  steel  structure.     Portland  cement  is  used  largely  in 
the  foundations  and  floors  of  these  buildings. 

One  of  the  first  considerations  in  erecting  one  of  these  gigantic 
steel  towers  is  the  securing  of  a  foundation  that  will  bear  the  enor- 
mous weight  without  danger  of  shifting  or  settling.  In  New  York 
City  the  foundations  are  usually  carried  down  to  the  bed-rock  that 
underlies  Manhattan  Island,  but  in  cities  like  Chicago,  erected  on 
a  sandy  soil,  it  is  often  necessary  to  make  an  artificial  base  that  is 
sufficiently  substantial  for  the  purpose.  One  method  is  to  sink  a 
mass  of  steel  rails  in  a  bed  of  concrete  or  cement,  and  by  laying  the 
rails  so  that  they  cross,  secure  a  very  solid  base;  in  other  cases 
the  method  is  simply  to  dig  down  a  considerable  distance  and  build 


512 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


Stone  or  brick  piers,  filled  in  with  cement,  so  that  when  this  hardens 
there  is  practically  one  great  block  of  stone. 

Ingenious  methods  are  resorted  to  for  distributing  the  weight 
of  the  heavy  walls  and  interior  supports  so  that  no  portion  of  the 
foundation  shall  be  unduly  loaded.  The  gas,  water,  and  other  pipes 
for  the  supply  of  the  steel  building  are  carried  up  in  the  open  spaces 
formed  in  the  columns.  The  plumbing  and  wiring  of  a  great  build- 
ing is  a  complicated  work  in  itself,  and  has  to  be  carried  on  under 


General  Grant's  Tomb,  Riverside  Drive,  Nevv'  York. 

the  rules  and  restrictions  laid  down  by  the  cities  in  which  the  build- 
ing is  erected. 

The  work  of  the  engineer  in  designing  one  of  these  great 
buildings  has  become  very  complex.  It  is  necessary  to  design  the 
top  story  first  and  work  downward,  each  story  being  supplied  with 
beams  of  a  proper  strength  to  sustain  the  weight  above  it.  If  a 
designer  should  undertake  to  begin  at  the  base  of  a  large  building, 
he  could  only  guess  at  the  weight  to  be  carried,  and  after  he  had 
worked  up  to  the  top  he  would  have  to  go  back  again  and  revise  and 
correct  every  part  carrying  weight. 

The  protection  of  steel  structures  from  corrosion  or  loss  of 


TENDENCY  OF  MODERN  ARCHITECTURE 


51, 


Strength  by  rusting  has  attracted  a  considerable  amount  of  attention, 
and  there  have  been  conflicting-  claims  that  these  buildings  would 
never  wear  out,  or  that  within  a  few  years  some  of  them  would  be 
in  a  dangerous  condition.  The  time  since  their  erection  was  begun 
has  been  too  brief  to  form  a  full  idea  as  to  what  may  be  expected  of 
them  in  the  way  of  durability,  but  it  is  probable  that  they  will  last 
until  the  demands  of  future  generations  shall  cause  them  to  be  torn 


Hotel  Waldorf-Astoria. 


down  to  make  way  for  bigger  and  better  structures.  It  is  common 
to  protect  the  iron  with  a  coat  of  paint  or  some  kind  of  patent  com- 
position based  on  graphite,  rubber,  red  lead,  or  the  like.  The  inves- 
tigations thus  far  made  bv  engineers  and  others  interested  go  to 
show  that  a  mixture  of  lead,  graphite,  and  oil  affords  the  best  pro- 
tection against  the  rusting  of  the  steel,  and  when  the  metal  is  properly 
enclosed  and  protected  from  the  weather  there  is  little  opportunity 
for  moisture  to  work  in  and  start  the  work  of  corrosion. 

33 


514 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  indications  are  that  the  building's  of  the  future  will  include 
more  steel  and  cement  and  less  wood.  Cement  is  cheap  and  getting 
cheaper,  and  Edison  and  others  have  established  enormous  plants 
for  its  manufacture.  When  cement  gets  down  to  five  dollars  a  ton, 
the  best  way  to  build  a  dwelling-house  will  be  to  make  rough  wooden 
moulds  and  cast  the  walls  of  solid  cement.  Thus  a  stone  house  can 
be  made  at  the  price  of  a  wooden  one.  A  good  many  cement  dwell- 
ings are  being  built  now,  and  they  are  sightly  as  well  as  sensible 
and  satisfactory.  The  total  production  of  manufactured  and  natural 
hydraulic  cement  in  the  United  States  is  now  3.500,000  tons  a  year, 


Supreme  Court  Building,  Appellate  Division. 
Madison  Avenue  and  Twenty-fifth  Street,  New  York  City. 

and  the  quantity  is  likely  to  increase  very  largely,  as  the  manu- 
facturers seek  to  lower  the  cost  in  order  to  increase  the  demand. 

The  making  of  slag  cement  was  taken  up  in  earnest  in  the 
United  States  in  1902  and  1903,  several  large  plants  being  estab- 
lished in  Pennsylvania.  Probably  nowhere  in  the  world  are  the 
conditions  better  for  the  manufacture,  as  the  raw  materials  are  both 
plentiful  and  cheap.  The  refuse  of  the  blast-furnace  supplies  the 
slag,  and  limestone  is  easily  obtained.  New  Jersey  is  the  second 
State  in  the  industry,  the  Edison  works  being  among  the  largest  in 
the  world.       Michigan,  New  York  and  Indiana  are  also  making 


TENDENCY    OF    MODERN    ARCHITECTURE 


515 


increased  quantities  of  Portland  cement.     The  gyratory  crusher  is 
commonly  employed  to  break  up  the  rock,  but  the  Edison  works 


employ  what  they  term  "  giant"  rolls,  that  have  enormous  crushing 
capacity,  as  may  be  judged  from  the  illustrations.     The  manufac- 


5i6 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


tured  cement  is  usually  shipped  in  barrels  of  400  pounds,  and  as  the 
wholesale  price  varies  between  one  and  two  dollars  a  barrel,  it  is 
apparent  that  it  is  the  cheapest  building  material  we  have. 


I  Courtesy    I  lie  Iron  Age. 

C  Giant  Rolls  for  Breaking  Rock  in  I\Tanufactnre  of  Portland  Cement. 

The  natural  rock,  Portland  and  slag  cements  all  have  the  cjual- 
ity  of  hardening  under  w'ater,  which  makes  their  use  almost  manda- 
tory for  foundations  at  all  liable  to  flooding.  A  ''  sky-scraper"  of 
twelve  stories  was  erected  in  Pittsburg  recently  which  was  almost 
wholly  of  cement  braced  with  steel.  If  this  is  the  success  that  it 
appears,  such  buildings  will  become  common. 


FLOUR-MILLIXG    BY    MODERN    MACHINERY 

About  1820  the  Genessee  Valley  in  New  York  State  was  the 
leading  centre  of  the  wheat-growing  and  flour-milling  industry  of 
the  United  States.  The  Rochester  mills  became  famous,  holding  a 
leading  position  for  at  least  half  a  century,  Rochester  being  known 
as  the  Flour  City  until  about  twenty  years  ago,  when  the  waning 
of  the  milling  industry  there  and  the  growth  of  the  nursery  business 
caused  the  name  to  be  changed  to  Flower  City.  As  the  wheat  farms 
extended  farther  and  farther  to  the  west,  the  milling  industry  fol- 
lowed, and  by  1840  the  States  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Illinois  and 
Michigan  were  producing  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  country's  total  of 
flour.  By  i860  the  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  produced 
about  half  of  the  total  wheat  and  flour.  Milwaukee  was  a  prominent 
flour  manufacturing  city  during  the  sixties,  but  by  1870  Minneapolis 
began  to  assume  a  prominent  position  in  the  milling  trade,  and 
to-day  she  is  the  largest  manufacturer  of  flour  of  any  city  in  the 
world,  doing  the  milling  for  the  vast  wheat  districts  of  Minnesota 
and  North  and  South  Dakotas. 

The  enormous  demand  made  upon  the  mills  of  Minneapolis 
during  the  past  generation  may  be  gathered  from  the  figures  of 
wheat  raising  in  that  vicinity:  in  1870  the  Minnesota  wheat  crop 
was  18,000,000  bushels,  and  in  1880  the  wheat  crop  of  the  two 
Dakotas  was  3,000,000;  but  in  1894  the  wheat  crop  of  Minnesota 
had  grown  to  over  60,000,000  bushels  and  that  of  the  Dakotas  to 
100,000,000  bushels,  while  at  the  present  date  the  average  crop  of 
these  States  is  probably  175,000,000  bushels  annually,  of  which 
two-thirds  is  milled  at  Minneapolis. 

In  1900  there  were  25,000  flour-mills  in  the  United  States,  as 
against  18,000  in  1890,  but  the  vast  majority  of  these  mills  are 
small  concerns,  there  being  but  135  mills  in  the  country  that  produce 
100,000  barrels  or  more  a  year.  Of  these  large  mills  Minnesota 
has  24,  New  York  14,  Kansas  13,  Illinois  12,  Missouri  9,  and  no 
other  State  has  more  than  6.  The  total  capital  invested  in  the 
milling  business  was  in  1900  $219,000,000,  an  increase  of  five  per 
cent,  only  over  the  capital  invested  in  1890.  The  number  of  wage- 
earners,  which  was  63,000  in  1890,  shrank  to  43.000  in  1900,  owing 
to  the  introduction  of  improved  machinery,  the  mill-owners  saving 
$4,000,000  a  year  in  wages  and  salaries  because  of  the  reduction. 

517 


5i8  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

The  value  of  the  product  of  these  mills  in  1900  was  $561,000,000. 
The  statistics  of  milling  show  that  while  the  corn  crop  of  the 
country  is  \ery  much  larger  than  the  wheat  crop,  most  of  the  corn 
is  fed  to  cattle,  and  that  the  public  consumes  twice  as  much  wheat 
as  corn,  and  four  and  a  half  times  as  much  wheat  as  oats  and  other 
cereals. 

The  making  of  good  bread  is  impossible  without  good  flour, 
and  American  flour  is  the  best  in  the  world.  If  it  be  true  that  we 
are  a  nation  of  dyspeptics,  as  has  been  asserted,  the  fault  is  not  with 
the  flour-mill.     There  science  goes  hand  in  hand  with  mercantile 


(  iii.iil.ir  Tile  Grain  Elcvalors,  Minneapolis. 

enterprise,  and  the  great  millers  of  the  Minneapolis  territory  give 
us  a  flour  made  from  the  hard  grain  of  the  northwest  wheat  region 
that  is  unsurpassed  in  nutritive  quality,  that  is  purified  and  divided 
in  a  manner  second  to  no  other,  and  which  is  produced  at  a  cost 
probably  a  little  lower  than  anywhere  else. 

The  Scientific  American  says  in  a  recent  article: 

"  The  wheat  grain  is  peculiar,  and  is  more  complex  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed. Its  outer  hull  or  cellulosic  coat  is  composed  of  five  layers,  and  beginning 
with  the  outside  is  known  as  the  epidermis,  epicarp,  endocarp,  testa,  and  inner 
coat  of  bran.  Leaving  these  botanical  considerations  to  the  botanist,  the  miller 
takes  upon  himself  the  entire  separation  of  these  coats  from  the  inner  starch  and 
gluten-producing  cells  inclosed.  The  '  germ'  is  useful  as  a  breakfast  food,  but 
not  for  milling,  as  it  impairs  the  keeping  qualities  of  the  flour.  Besides  the 
starch  cells  there  are  gliadin  and  ^lutenin  cells;    the  latter  two  when  combined 


FLOUR-MILLING    BY    MODERN    MACHINERY 


519 


with  water  form  gluten,  which  gives  the  flour  much  of  its  value  as  a  food.  The 
miUing  processes  must  now  remove  the  bran  coats  and  crush  the  gluten  and 
starch  to  a  soft  powder  of  great  fineness,  and  this  is  only  accomplished  by  a  series 
of  operations  which  are  interdependent.  At  this  point,  however,  it  might  be  well 
to  call  attention  to  a  popular  error.  Flour  is  not  dust  or  pulverized  wheat ;  it 
really  consists  of  sharp  granules  of  uniform  size,  composed  of  starch  and  gluten, 
all  impurities  having  been  removed.  The  thought  might  arise  as  to  what  is 
known  as  '  whole  wheat'  flour,  which  created  such  widespread  interest  a  few 
years  ago,  on  account  of  its  alleged  great  nutritive  value  over  white  or  '  patent' 
flour.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  the  germ  and  bran  have  food  value,  and  if  the 
human  stomach  were  capable  of  performing  all  the  operations  of  the  miller,  this 


C<>urtei\   Scientifi* 


1600-Bushel  Grain  Scales. 


could  be  utilized.  There  is  more  nutriment  in  the  skin  of  the  potato  than  in  the 
body  of  it,  but  who  can  eat  an  equal  weight  of  the  former  without  the  stomach's 
rebelling?  A  nutritive  substance  is  not  always  a  digestive  one.  We  give  flour  to 
men  and  women  and  bran  to  cattle,  and  all  thrive,  but  a  man  is  no  stronger  than 
his  stomach.  Milling  is  not  done  to  make  a  white  flour,  but  to  make  a  food 
product  which  will  be  easily  assimilated." 

The  introduction  of  modern  machinery  into  the  flour-mills  of 
the  United  States  may  be  said  to  have  begun  in  1868,  when  E.  N. 
La  Croix,  of  Faribault,  Minn.,  built  the  first  American  middling-s 
purifier,  and  began  marketing  the  flour,  which  sold  at  an  advance 
of  fifty  cents  a  barrel.     George  T.  Smith  improved  upon  this  puri- 


\20 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


fier  and  took  out  a  patent,  and  before  long  the  increased  profits  on 
flour  handled  with  this  machinery  amounted  to  three  dollars  a  barrel. 
This  opened  the  eyes  of  Minneapolis  millers,  and  C.  A.  Pillsbury 
and  George  H.  Christian  and  others  went  to  Europe  to  study  the 
Hungarian  method  of  milling,  which  had  the  reputation  of  being 
the  best  in  the  world.     On  its  return,  this  commission  recommended 


A  Rfiller-Mill. 

the  adoption  of  the  Hungarian  system,  especially  the  substitution 
of  rollers  for  millstones.  '  Some  of  the  American  mills  built  ma- 
chinery patterned  after  the  Hungarian,  but  the  Pillsbury  mills 
Americanized  the  machinery  and  simplified  it.  Rollers  of  chilled 
iron  and  porcelain  gradually  replaced  the  millstones,  the  change 
greatly  improving  the  character  of  the  flour,  and  saving  much  more 
of  the  gluten.     Under  the  old  system  of  milling  or  crushing  the 


FLOUR-MILLING    BY    MODERN    MACHINERY 


521 


wheat  between  upper  and  lower  rotating  millstones,  the  miller  tried 
to  get  flour  as  soon  as  he  could  and  as  fast  as  he  could  from  the 
broken  product,  but  with  the  roller  system  the  miller  does  not  try 
to  get  flour  at  the  first  two  or  three  breakings,  but  simply  tries  to 
divide  the  product  scientifically,  so  that  at  the  last  passages  through 
the  rollers  he  may  obtain  a  more  perfect  separation. 

Among  standard  makes  of  roller-mills,  the  style  C  mill  of  the 
Nordyke  &  Marmon  Company,  here  illustrated,  is  widely  used.     In 


A  ATiddlings  Purifier. 


all  these  mills  there  are  clever  devices  for  exact  adjustment  of  the 
rolls,  and  coil  springs  are  arranged  to  hold  the  rolls  apart  so  that 
they  may  not  touch  each  other,  and  also  to  allow^  the  rolls  to  spread 
in  order  that  they  may  not  l^reak  should  any  hard  substance  by 
accident  come  between  them.  There  are  two  pairs  of  corrugated 
rolls,  the  first  pair  rotating  slowly,  the  other  more  rapidly.  The 
opposed  rolls  turn  in  opposite  directions  so  as  to  break  the  kernels. 

After  the  roller-mill  comes  the  scalper,  which  has  a  flat  sieve 
tliat  allows  the  middlings  or  granular  material  to  pass  through,  while 


522 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


the  coarser  grains  pass  over  the  scalper  to  another  set  of  rolls  for 
further  gTinding.  About  five  grindings  and  scalpings  are  required. 
The  square  sifter  here  shown  is  a  gyratory  sieve  bolter  of  large 
capacity,  but  designed  to  use  little  floor-space.  Swing  sifters  or 
scalpers  are  also  manufactured  for  doing  similar  work.  The  mid- 
dlings purifier  has  been  manufactured  in  a  great  many  forms  and 
been  subjected  to  numerous  improvements.  The  one  chosen  for 
illustration  here  is  the  standard  sieve  purifier,  which  is  largely  used. 
The  sieve-frame  has  removable  cloth  strips,  so  arranged  that  the 
sieve  may  be  tightened  with  thumb-nuts.     A  brush  underneath  ex- 


Square  Flour-Sifler. 

tends  the  full  length  of  the  sieve,  travelling  automatically  from  side 
to  side,  and  keeping  the  silk  clean.  At  the  top  is  a  fan,  and  the 
suction-chamber  extends  over  the  entire  sieve;  there  are  valves 
adjustable  from  the  outside  to  control  the  air-currents.  The  door- 
slats  deflect  the  incoming  air  downward,  thus  avoiding  annoyance 
from  strong  drafts.  The  bran,  being  lighter  than  the  rest  of  the 
middlings,  is  separated  by  the  fan,  and  discharged  into  a  separate 
compartment.  Treatment  in  a  second  purifier  follows.  The  intro- 
duction of  the  middlings  purifier  created  many  changes  in  milling 
practice. 

The  differential  reel,  round  reel,  hexagonal  reel,  octagon  reel, 


FLOUR-MILLING    BY    MODERN    MACHINERY 


523 


and  flour-blender  are  names  given  to  varying  forms  of  machines 
for  dressing,  scalping,  mixing,  blending,  and  similar  operations. 
The  differential  reel  here  shown  has  a  central  feed-tube  and  an  open- 
tail  discharge,  there  being  a  conveyor-screw  on  the  operating  shaft. 
This  reel  has  a  frame  or  outer  cylinder  covered  with  bolting-cloth, 
rotating  at  a  slow  speed,  and  a  series  of  blades  rotating  within,  near 
the  cloth,  at  a  higher  speed.  These  blades  spray  the  flour  evenly 
over  the  interior  of  the  cloth-cylinder,  the  difference  in  velocity 
insuring  free  and  rapid  bolting. 


Nordyke  &  Marmoii's  Differential   Reel  for  Dressing  Flour. 

Among  many  forms  of  dusters  the  upright  bran-duster  has 
been  selected  for  illustration.  It  has  a  straight  cylinder  and  brushes 
that  are  adjustable  while  running.  The  flour  stock  in  this  machine 
is  kept  very  evenly  distributed,  avoiding  all  bunching  in  material. 
The  bran  is  spouted  in  at  the  top  of  the  machine  and  falls  on  a 
disk  attached  to  a  spindle  that  distributes  it  evenly  against  a  wire 
cloth.  Sweeps  at  the  bottom  discharge  the  flour  through  one  open- 
ing while  the  bran  is  discharged  through  another  opening  below  the 
case. 

A  conspicuous  feature  of  the  milling  industry  is  the  storage 


524  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

of  the  grain,  which  accumulates  and  has  to  be  cared  for  in  enor- 
mous elevators.  As  the  crop  is  harvested  within  a  few  weeks,  pro- 
vision has  to  be  made  for  storing  the  whole  of  the  year's  product, 
which  means  for  the  whole  country  perhaps  500,000,000  bushels 
of  wheat.     The  average  wheat  farmer  of  Dakota  sends  the  bulk  of 


Upright   Bran-Duster. 

his  grain  to  what  are  termed  railroad  elevators  located  in  the  nearest 
large  town.  From  such  elevators  the  gTain  is  transferred  to  larger 
storage  elevators  located  at  transfer  points,  as  at  the  junction  of  a 
railway  with  a  line  of  steamers.  The  tendency  of  grain  elevators 
has  been  steadily  towards  increased  size.  In  1890  there  were  only 
a  few  of  a  capacity  of  1,000,000  bushels,  but  to-day  there  are  at  the 
more    important    railway    terminals    and    harbors    grain    elevators 


FLOUR-MILLING    BY    MODERN    MACHINERY 


525 


having  a  storage  capacity  of  from  1,500,000  to  3,000,000  bushels. 
The  elevator  of  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  Company  at  West 
Superior,  Wisconsin,  is  credited  with  a  capacity  of  a  little  over 
3,000,000  bushels,  being  designed  for  containing  both  corn,  wheat, 
and  oats. 

The  latest  pattern  of  grain  elevator  is  made  up  of  a  group 
of  large  cylindrical  tanks,  formed  of  sheet  steel  resting  on  stone 
foundations,  and  protected  with  outer  walls  of  brick  or  cement. 
Above  the  tanks  is  a  superstructure  for  carrying  the  hoisting  and 
conveying  machinery,  that  handles  the  grain  as  it  is  brought  in 
and  taken  out.  The  plan  of  construction  in  common  use  is  to 
locate  the  distributing  department  next  to  the  bins  and  above  the 
•scale-room ;  above  this  being  what  are  known  as  the  cleaning  gar- 
ners, and  above  this  the  shafting  and  other  transmitting  machinery. 
When  the  grain  comes  in  it  is  carried  to  the  top  of  the  building  by 
conveyors,  which  usually  consist  of  endless  belts  carrying  buckets. 
The  dust  is  removed  by  nicely  regulated  air-currents  and  conveyed 
out  of  the  building,  while  the  grain  is  distributed  to  the  proper  bins 
after  weighing".  WHien  a  bin  is  full,  the  weig'ht  is  registered  auto- 
matically, and  a  door  opens  in  the  bottom  of  the  bin,  allowing  the 
grain  to  fall  into  one  of  the  large  storage  compartments. 

The  grain  is  taken  out  of  the  bottom  of  the  storage  tanks 
through  large  spouts,  which  can  be  emptied  directly  into  the  hold  of 
a  vessel,  so  that  no  manual  labor  whatever  is  required  in  handling 
the  grain. 

Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  locate  a  large  grain  elevator  at 
some  distance  from  a  water  front,  a  case  in  point  being  one  of  the 
■elevators  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  at  New  Orleans, 
which  is  located  near  the  tracks,  but  is  500  feet  from  the  river  into 
which  it  delivers  its  grain.  By  means  of  a  system  of  belt-conveyors 
the  grain  is  carried  to  the  water  and  deposited  in  the  vessels  at  a 
rapid  rate,  it  being  practicable  to  load  several  vessels  at  once.  At 
this  elevator  the  grain  is  unloaded  from  the  cars  by  automatic  steam- 
shovels,  which  are  run  into  the  elevator  building  on  depressed  tracks. 

The  Pillsbury  and  Washburn  mills  of  Minneapolis  are  the 
largest  in  the  world,  and  the  twenty-odd  mills  of  that  city  have  a 
■daily  capacity  of  over  30.000  barrels  of  flour.  The  Minneapolis 
flour  output  for  1903  was  nearly  16,000,000  barrels,  being  600,000 
less  than  in  1902,  ownng  to  a  strike.  The  export  trade  of  Minne- 
apolis reached  its  maximum  in  1900,  when  5,702,000  barrels  were 
sent  abroad.  During  recent  years  the  United  Kingdom  has  bought 
less,  owing  to  discriminating  legislation  as  to  freight  rates.     The 


526 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


foreign  trade  of  Minneapolis  would  have  suffered  severely  were  it 
not  that  the  trade  with  the  Orient  began  to  increase  at  the  time  that 
the  English  demand  lessened.  The  flour  output  and  direct  exports 
of  Minneapolis  mills  by  calendar  years  are  shown  below : 


Output, 
Bbls. 

903 15,643750 

902 16,260, 105 

901 15,921,880 

900 15,082,725 

899 14  291,780 

898 14,232,595 

897 13,635,205 

896 12,874,890 

895 10,581,635 

894 9400,535 

893 9.377,635 

892 9,750,470 

891 7.877,947 

890 ■...   6,988,830 

889 6,088,865 

888 7,056,680 

7 6,574,900 

6 6,168,000 

S 5,221,245 

4 5,317,670 

3 4,046,220 


Per 

Exports, 

Cent.  Ex 

Bbls. 

ported. 

3,100,165 

19.80 

3,410,405 

20.97 

3,897,905 

21.31 

5,702,485 

37.80 

4,009,135 

28.05 

4,052,585 

28.47 

3,942,630 

2913 

3,717,265 

28.80 

3,080,935 

29. 1 1 

2,370,756 

25.21 

2,877,275 

30.68 

3,337,205 

34.22 

3,038,065 

38.53 

2,107,125 

30.14 

1,953,815 

32.08 

2,197.540 

31-14 

2,650,000 

40.30 

2,288,500 

37.10 

1.834,845 

35-13 

1,805,875 

33-22 

1,343.105 

33-96 

THE  LEATHER  AND  SHOE  TRADES 

The  tanning  and  preparation  of  leather  dates  from  the  earliest 
period  of  human  history;  the  Egyptians  tanned  leather  under  the 
early  Pharaohs,  and  the  art  was  known  to  the  ancient  Mexicans 
and  Peruvians,  as  well  as  to  the  Chinese.  Roughly  speaking,  tan- 
ning consists  in  scraping  an  animal's  hide  clean,  and  then  soaking 
it  in  an  astringent  acid,  usually  tannic  acid,  as  that  made  from  oak- 
or  hemlock-bark.  This  acid  acts  chemically  on  the  gelatin  and 
gluten  of  the  hide,  causing  them  to  form  insoluble  compounds.  In 
modern  practice  the  business  is  divided  into  curing  and  tanning,  the 
former  name  being  applied  to  those  cleaning  processes  adopted 
before  soaking  the  hides. 


Vaughn  Leather-Glazing  Machine. 

The  tanner  speaks  of  the  skins  of  all  large  animals,  as  cattle, 
horses,  elephants,  hippopotami,  etc.,  as  hides;,  the  skins  of  small 
or  yearling  cattle  he  terms  kips;  while  the  word  skins  is  reserved 
for  the  covering  of  all  the  smaller  animals,  as  sheep,  goats,  calves, 
deer,  pigs,  seals,  etc. 

Tanning  was  one  of  the  earliest  industries  undertaken  in 
America,  forty-one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Massachusetts  Bay  being 
tanners  by  trade.  They  were  favored  by  circumstances  in  follow- 
ing their  calling,  as  skins  and  hides  were  very  cheaply  obtained  in 
those  days  when  wild  game  was  abundant  and  tan-bark  was  ob- 

527 


528 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


tained  with  little  labor.  They  not  only  at  once  supplied  all  the 
demands  of  the  American  settlements  for  leather,  but  about  1800 
had  begun  to  export  to  England.  The  first  record  of  tanneries  in 
the  United  States  locates  one  in  Virginia  in  1629  or  1630.  and  one 
in  Swampscott,  Massachusetts,  in  1630.  The  latter  was  established 
by  Francis  Ingalls,  and  was  run  successfully  for  a  great  many  years, 
the  vats  remaining  in  existence  until  1825,  when  they  were  filled 
up  because  the  land  was  wanted  for  other  purposes. 

A  man  named  Mitchell  started  a  tannery  at  Joppa,  near  Bridge- 
water,  Massachusetts,  probably  in  1630,  and  a  few  years  later  John 
Glover  started  one  at  Dorcester.  In  1647  there  were  a  number  of 
tanneries  at  Roxbury,  which  became  known  as  a  tanning  centre. 

After  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  tannery  of  Colonel  William 
Edwards  was  one  of  the  leading  industries  of  New  Hampshire ;   he 


Automatic  Bleaching-Machine. 

developed  improved  machinery  and  shipped  leather  regularly  to  Bos- 
ton after  1794.  The  Hampshire  Leather  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  Massachusetts,  which  was  established  in  1809  with  a  capital  of 
$100,000,  purchased  Edwards's  tannery  and  others  in  Northampton, 
Chester,  and  Cunnington,  securing  something  like  a  monopoly  of 
New  England  trade,  and  being  perhaps  the  first  instance  of  an 
American  "  trust."  This  concern  had  a  producing  capacity  of  16,000 
large  hides  a  year,  and  did  a  successful  business  for  a  long  time. 

The  United  States  census  of  18 10  gives  the  total  manufacture 
of  leather  in  the  country  as  of  $18,000,000  value,  though  historians 
of  the  leather  industry  agree  that  it  was  at  least  $20,000,000.  By 
1850  the  industry  had  grown  so  that  the  output  amounted  to  $43,- 
000,000.  The  following  table  affords  a  summary  of  the  growth  of 
the  leather  trade  during  the  last  half-century,  from  \\'hich  it  appears 
that  the  development  of  the  industry  was  practically  continuous. 


THE   LEATHER    AND    SHOE    TRADES 


529 


Total. 


Boots  and  shoes,  factory  product. . . . 
Leather,  tanned,  cuiried,  and  finished 

Saddlery  and  harness 

Leather  goods,  pocket-books,  trunks, 

and  valises 

Boots  and   shoes,   custom   work   and 

repairing 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock 

Belting  and  hose,  leather 

Boot  and  shoe  uppers 


Year. 


Total. 


Boots  and  shoes,  factory  product.  . 
Leather,  tanned,  curried,  and  finished 

Saddlery  and  harness 

Leather  goods,  pocket-books,  trunks, 

and  valises 

Boots  and  shoes,  custom   work  and 

repairing 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock 

Belting  and  hose,  leather  

Boot  and  shoe  uppers 

Leather .  dressed  skins 


Total. 


Boots  and  shoes,  factory  product. 
Leather,  tanned,  curried,  and  finished 

Saddlery  and  harness 

Leather  goods,  pocket-books,  trunks 

and  valises 

Boots  and  shoes,   custom   work  and 


repairmg 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock.  . 
Belting  and  hose,  leather. 
Boot  and  shoe  uppers.  .  . 
Leather,  dressed  skins... 


Total. 


Leather,  tanned,  curried,  and  finished 

Saddlery  and  harness 

Leather  goods,  pocket-books,  trunks, 

and  valises 

Boots  and  shoes 

Belting  and  hose,  leather 

Leather,  dressed  skins 


Total. 


Leather,  tanned,  curried,  and  finished 

Saddlery  and  harness 

Leather  goods,  pocket-books,  trunks, 

and  valises 

Boots  and  shoes 

Boot  and  shoe  cut  stock 

Belting  and  hose,  leather 

Leather,  dressed  skins 


Total. 


Leather,  tanned,  curried,  and  finished 

Saddlery  and  harness 

Leather  goods,  pocket-books,  trunks, 

and  valises 

Boots  and  shoes 

Belting  and  hose,  leather 1850 

Leather,  dressed  skins 1850 


igoo 
1900 
1900 

1900 

1900 
igoo 
1900 
igoo 


i8ao 
1890 
1890 

1890 

1890 
1890 
1890 
1890 


1870 


1870 
1870 


1870 
1870 


i860 
i860 


1850 


1850 
1850 


1850 


Number 
of  Es- 
tablish 
ments. 


1,600 

1,306 

12,934 

772 

23,560 
342 
105 
132 

33.970 


Capital 


$356,581,838 


1,749 
7,931 

613 

20,803 
344 

93 
317 

38 


1880      32,327 


1,959 
5.426 

7,999 
378 


1880  I   16,013 
1880  I         172 

1880  !      97 


38,990 


7.459 
7,607 

29s 
23,428 

91 
IIO 

21,556 


5,175 
3,621 


214 
12,486 


6,664 
3,515 

165 
11,305 


101,795,233 

173,977,421 

43.354,136 

13,505,819 

9,262,134 

7,003,080 

7,410,219 

273,796 

265,687,684 


95,2B2,3ii 
97.653,898 
35.346,620 

11,148,694 

14,230,081 

S.401,834 

4.973,420 

1,216,026 

434,800 

152,380,350 


42,994,028 
67,117.674 
16,508,019 

3,961,256 

11,364,273 

1,210,300 

2,749,299 

209,264 

6,266,237 

128,812,105 


59,784,362 
13.935,961 

2,638,389 

48,994.366 

2,118,577 

1,340,450 

70,718,431 


38,908,170 
6,478,184 

1.244,000 

23,357,627 

25,000 

588,000 

117,450 

40,232,503 


22,582,795 
3,969,379 


Wage- Earners. 


\lZ'hJt  '•'ot^l  Wages. 


142,922 
52,109 
24.123 


6,155 

1,667 

256 

233,496 


133.690 
42,095 
22,672 

10,074 

16,981 

4.992 

1,342 

1,353 

297 

207,096 


111,152 
34,887 
21,446 

6,998 

22.667 

2,885 

1,229 

4:- 7 

5.395 

199,826 


.^4,345 
23,557 


4,329 
135,889 


165,068 


26,145 
12,285 

3  160 

123,02b 

'  15 

354 


25.379 
12,958 


5105,571,004 


59,175,883 
22,591,091 
10,725,647 

5,679,767 

4,128,361 
2,230,691 

913,937 
125,627 

107,978,195 


60,667,145 
21,090,176 
10,908,918 

4.448.796 

7,422,377 

1,891,031 

780,615 

609,324 

159,813 

79,747.644 


43,001,438 
14,062,456 
7,997,752 

2,737,726 

7.993,706 
735.482 
607,287 
170,425 

2,441,372 

76,150,297 


14,108,201 
7,046,207 

2,171,416 

51,972,712 

454.187 

397,574 

44,308,830 


8,144,278 
4,150,365 


901,741 
30,938,080 


134,952 
31,230 


31.877,342 


6,492,130 
3,154,008 


522,610            2,142  543,840 

12,924,919  ':  105,254  ;  21,622,608 

40,800  j I            39  1  15,208 

192,000               216  49,548 


Value  of 
Products. 


515,720,395 


261,028,580 

204,038,127 

62,630,902 

26,905,814 

26,550,678 

23,242,892 

10,623,177 

700,225 

529,311,269 


220,649,358 
171, 063,3:57 
52,970,801 

18,814,885 

34,856,551 
17,903,846 

8,633,634 
3,346,002 

1,072,75s 
461,189,543 


166,050,354 
184,865,633 
38,081,643 

11,068,749 

30,870,127 

7,531,635 

6,531.249 

790,842 

15,399.311 
385,241,254 


154.377,625 
32,709,g8i 

9,091.543 

181,644,090 

4,558,043 

2,859,972 

187,552,528 


75,318,475 
14,169,037 

4,163.956 
91,889,298 

149,740 
1,481,750 

380,272 

109,734,643 


42,932,528 
9,935,474 

2,213,363 

53,967,408 

160,500 

525.370 


The  United  States  e.\ports  on  an  average  a  little  over  $17,000,000  a  year  of  leather  and  leather  goods, 
and  imports  about  $25,000,000  worth  of  goat-skins. 

34 


530 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  history  of  the  tanning  industry  during  the  last  one  hun- 
dred years  is  a  continuous  record  of  improved  machinery  and  proc- 
esses. The  first  leather-spHtting  machine  came  in  1808,  the  leather- 
rolhng  machine  followed  in  181 2,  and  in  the  same  year  came  the 
machine  so  ungrammatically  named  the  unhairing--machine  —  it 
should  be  called  a  dehairing-machine.  The  first  machine  for  board- 
ing and  graining  leather  was  patented  in  1835,  ^^^^^  ^  machine  for 
depilating  hides  and  skins  was  patented  in  1836,  this  operation  being 
different  from  that  termed  "  unhairing."  1838  was  a  banner  year 
for  first  patents  in  tanning  processes,  there  being  taken  out  first 
patents  for  compounds  for  bating  hides  and  skins  (that  is,  softening 
them  in  a  manure  mixture)  ;  also  for  processes  and  machines  for 
whitening,  buffing  and  shaving  leather,  and  of  new  processes  for 
tawing  and  currying.    Tawing,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  a  process 


Scrubbing-Machine. 
(For  cleansing  heavy  leather  after  tannage.) 

of  producing  leather  by  some  treatment  other  than  soaking  in  tannic 
acid,  as  by  using  a  solution  of  alum  and  salt  or  by  treating  with  oil, 
the  product  in  the  latter  case  being  usually  termed  oil-leather. 

The  first  machines  for  stoning,  polishing,  finishing,  glazing, 
flinting.  creasing,  and  dicing  leather  were  produced  in  1845,  coming 
into  use  a  few  years  later.  Japanned  and  patent  leather  made  its 
appearance  shortly  before  the  Civil  War,  as  did  also  pebbled  leather. 
The  first  leather-stretching  machine  was  patented  in  1859,  and  the 
first  machine  for  shaving  leather  to  a  uniform  thickness  in  1867. 
The  patenting  of  leather-measuring  machines  began  in  1877,  but  a 
wholly  satisfactory  machine  for  this  purpose  was  not  marketed  until 
1904,  when  the  Vaughn  Machine  Company  brought  out  Beal's 
measuring-machine.  This  consists  of  a  pair  of  rolls  having  contact 
points  one  inch  apart.     When  a  side  of  leather  is  run  through  be- 


THE  LEATHER  AND  SHOE  TRADES 


531 


tween  the  rolls  an  electrical  contact  is  formed  for  each  scjuare  inch 
of  leather.  An  adding  device  takes  note  of  these,  and  when  the  side 
has  passed  entirely  throngh  the  numher  of  square  inches  is  shown 
on  a  register. 

During  the  past  twenty  years  the  machinery  of  the  tanner  has 
been  almost  wholly  reconstructed,  the  modern  machines  for  manipu- 
lating the  hide  having  reached  a  high  state  of  development,  and 
many  new  patented  processes  and  compounds  being  in  use  for  tan- 
ning, tawing,  and  depilating.  A  century  ago  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
months  were  required  to  tan  the  hides,  and  naturally  the  tanners 
turned  their  endeavors  towards  reducing  this  time.  One  of  the  first 
devices  to  assist  this  end  was  the  barkometer,  which  was  simply  a 


Vaughn  Bark-Cutter. 

form  of  hydrometer  ada])ted  to  testing  the  strength  of  tanning 
liquors.  Green  hides  are  limed  and  dry  hides  are  sweated  for  the 
purpose  of  loosening  the  hair,  sulphide  of  soda  being  used  as  an 
assistant  to  the  lime.  The  hides  are  next  beamed  to  remove  the 
hair  and  supertiuous  flesh  and  work  out  the  lime  and  dirt.  The 
most  common  liciuors  used  in  tannage  are  oak,  "  union,"  and  hem- 
lock. It  is  still  necessary  to  leave  the  hides  to  soak  in  the  tanning- 
vats  for  a  considerable  length  of  time;  the  Duric  process  for  agi- 
tating the  hides  seems  to  have  met  with  little  favor  in  the  United 
States,  though  it  is  used  to  some  extent  in  Europe. 

Chrome-tannage  has  been  increasing  in  use  during  the  past  ten 
or  fifteen  years,  being  now  frequently  employed  for  cow-hides  and 
calf-skins,  as  well  as  for  sheep-  and  goat-skins.  It  has  come  to  be 
very  popular  for  upper  leather.     The  ''  one-bath"  method  involves 


532  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

the  use  of  a  neutral  solution  of  chromic  oxide.  While  chrome- 
tanned  leathers  do  not  possess  the  coloring  properties  of  bark-tanned, 
they  have  a  great  advantage  in  the  matter  of  time  saved,  the  actual 
conversion  of  the  skin  into  leather  requiring  but  a  few  hours. 

Patent  or  enamelled  leather  has  been  increasing  in  popularity 
during  the  past  few  years.  In  manufacturing  this  the  skins  are 
dried  for  several  days  in  a  hot  room,  and  after  smoothing  the  sur- 
face and  moistening  it,  ground  pumice  is  spread  on  and  rubbed  in, 
the  process  being  repeated  a  number  of  times.  A  turpentine  black- 
ening is  next  applied,  and  the  skin  is  again  dried,  this  time  for 
several  weeks.  The  leather  is  then  tacked  on  a  frame  and  varnished 
with  a  brush,  after  which  it  is  slowly  baked  for  about  three  days. 
United  States  manufactures  have  taken  the  lead  in  making  patent 
leather,  as  indeed  they  have  in  the  whole  boot  and  shoe  industry. 

Vegetable  tanned  leather  has  to  be  stuffed  with  grease  to  keep 
it  soft,  the  "  stuffing"  compound  usually  consisting  of  tallow,  stearin, 
and  wool-grease.  A  revolving-drum  machine,  having  pins  on  the 
interior  of  the  drum,  carries  the  skin  towards  the  top  of  the  drum, 
and  then  drops  them  back  into  the  compound,  which  facilitates  the 
stuffing  process. 

A  black  surface  is  produced  o^'er  the  grain  of  the  leather  by  an 
application  of  logwood  water,  followed  by  copperas  water  before 
the  logwood  has  dried.  Glazing-  and  rolling-machines  are  com- 
monly employed  in  addition  to  blackening-machines. 

The  sandal  was  the  first  attempt  at  a  foot  covering  in  the  East- 
ern world,  as  was  the  moccasin  in  the  Western  world.  One  is 
suited  to  a  hot  clime,  the  other  to  a  cold.  The  leathern  shoe  is  a 
combination  of  the  good  features  of  each,  and,  like  everything  else 
we  wear,  is  a  development.  The  shoes  made  in  1800  were  the  prod- 
uct of  hand-labor.  The  shoemaker  took  a  side  of  leather,  cut  out 
pieces  of  the  thickest  for  the  soles,  used  the  thinner  parts  for  the 
sides,  and  sewed  and  nailed  them  all  together  on  a  last.  The  making 
of  one  shoe  was  a  day's  w'ork.  Now  the  parts  of  the  shoe  go 
through  the  hands  of  from  100  to  300  operatives  in  the  making, 
and  in  its  manufacture  not  less  than  fifty,  and  from  that  to  100 
machines  are  employed.  The  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor 
computed  in  1898  that  on  an  average  for  100  pairs  a  man's  medium- 
grade  calf  shoe  passed  through  the  hands  of  371  operatives,  a 
woman's  cheap  l3utton-shoe  through  269,  a  man's  fine  shoe  through 
146,  and  a  woman's  fine  shoe  through  140. 

Under  the  old-time  process  of  making  shoes  by  hand  there  was 
expended  for  the  labor  on  100  pairs  of  men's  medium  grade  calf 


THE  LEATHER  AND  SHOE  TRADES 


533 


shoes  $408.  In  these  days  of  machines  the  cost  of  labor  per  hundred 
pairs  is  $35.  On  men's  fine  shoes  there  was  formerly  spent  for 
labor  $556,  and  now  $74;  on  women's  cheap  shoes  $109,  now  $20, 
and  on  women's  fine  shoes  $499,  now  $54. 

The  average  cost  of  each  pair  of  shoes,  boots,  slippers,  or  the 
like  in  the  United  States  is  $1.19,  and  each  individual  in  the  coun- 
try wears  out  two  and  four-fifths  pairs  every  year.  The  employ- 
ment of  convict  labor  has  had  considerable  influence  upon  the  boot 
and  shoe  industry.  About  1850  it  was  common  to  employ  convicts 
in  the  manufacture  of  their  own  shoes  and  also  for  shoes  to  be  sold 
in  the  general  market,  and  by  1886  there  were  nearly  8000  convicts 
employed  in  making  shoes,  the  value  of  their  product  in  that  year 


Vaughn  Pendulum  Whitening-Machine. 

being  $11,000,000.  Since  that  time  there  have  been  strong  efforts 
to  prevent  this  sort  of  competition,  and  the  manufacture  in  penal 
institutions  has  been  checked,  though  it  still  exercises  a  depressing 
influence  in  the  trade. 

Boston  is  the  centre  of  the  shoe-machinery  business.  All  the 
important  American  patents  on  shoe  machinery  are  controlled  in 
Boston,  and  the  machines  are  made  in  New  England.  The  whole 
country  must  buy  its  shoe  machinery  in  Boston,  or  pay  royalties 
there.  Foreigners  wishing  to  adopt  American  machines  buy  them 
from  branches  of  the  Boston  concern  which  controls  them,  and  New 
England  experts  are  sent  abroad  to  instruct  buyers  in  the  use  of 
the  machines.     Thus  the  shoemaking  world  beyond  the  water  is 


534  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

obliged  to  come  to  New  England  for  its  best  machinery,  and  to 
go  to  school  to  New  Englanders  to  learn  to  operate  it.  All  shoe- 
making  centres  in  this  country  also  learn  how  to  run  and  care  for 
shoe  machinery  from  New  England  experts,  as  the  Boston  shoe 
machinery  people  keep  a  corps  of  skilled  men  in  every  shoe  centre 
to  introduce  machines,  set  them  up,  give  instructions  in  running 
them,  and  keep  them  in  order. 

The  exportation  of  boots  and  shoes  began  in  Boston  more  than 
one  hundred  years  ago,  and  by  1865  the  trade  amounted  to  more 
than  $2,000,000  yearly.  It  then  fell  off  until  1895  when  manu- 
facturers made  an  effort  to  re-establish  foreign  sales,  securing  ex- 
ports that  year  of  a  little  over  $1,000,000,  which  have  since  grown 
to  about  $6,000,000. 

Following  are  the  figures  for  1902  :  Total  exports,  $6,182,088; 
to  the  United  Kingdom,  $2,013,890;  Australasia,  $955,230;  Can- 
ada, $523,624.  The  exports  of  boots  and  shoes  to  the  United  King- 
dom during  six  years  were:  in  1897,  $300,978;  1898,  $352,755; 
1899,  $525,242;  1900,  $950,267;  1901,  $1,552,623,  and  1902,  $2,- 
013,890. 

Twelve  years  ago  Great  Britain  took  only  $2169  worth  of  boots 
and  shoes  from  the  United  States. 

The  following  report  from  United  States  Consul  McCunn  at 
Dunfermline,  Scotland,  shows  how  the  English  manufacturers  are 
preparing  to  repel  the  invasion  of  American  shoes : 

"  Nearly  all  the  boot  shops  handle  American  boots  and  shoes  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  and  other  articles  of  American  import  carried  by  dealers  generally 
throughout  Scotland  are  usually  to  be  had  in  the  shops  here.  While  American 
boots  and  shoes  are  as  popular  as  ever,  and  continue  to  hold  the  prominent  place 
gained  in  the  British  market,  it  is  likely  to  be  but  a  question  of  time  when 
the  imports  of  boots  and  shoes  from  the  United  States  must  necessarily  fall  off, 
as  British  manufacturers  are  now  turning  out  a  class  of  boots  and  shoes  in 
st3de,  finish,  and  quality  like  American  made  boots  and  shoes.  Retail  boot  shops, 
even  in  the  smaller  towns,  are  advertising  boots  made  to  order  on  American 
lasts.  The  new  machinery  and  American  lasts,  which  the  British  manufacturers 
were  once  so  slow  to  adopt,  are  now  enabling  them  to  turn  out  an  easy  fitting, 
ready-made  boot,  in  a  variety  of  sizes,  that  in  every  way  satisfies  the  wants  of 
the  trade." 

Shoe-pegs  were  invented  in  181 1  by  a  Yankee,  and  began  to 
come  into  general  use  within  three  or  four  years.  Up  to  this  time 
shoemakers  had  worked  mostly  each  in  a  little  shop  by  himself  or 
with  one  or  two  companions,  one  making  a  whole  shoe  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  Where  a  few  worked  together,  it  often  became  ap- 
parent that  one  man  could  do  a  portion  of  the  work  better  or  quicker 
than  the  others,  and  they  began  to  divide  the  work  according  to  their 


THE  LEATHER  AND  SHOE  TRADES  535 

special  abilities  or  tastes.  Soon  there  were  some  energetic  men  who 
prospered  by  hiring  perhaps  ten  or  fifteen  workmen  and  dividing 
the  work  systematically. 

Thus  was  the  shoe  factory  originated,  and  when  the  era  of  ma- 
chinery began  about  1850,  the  workmen  were  ready  to  take  advan- 
tage of  it.  The  rolling-machine  came  first,  and  the  splitter-  and 
racing-machine  (for  cutting  the  leather  from  the  side  into  strips) 
both  appeared  before  i860.  A  hand-pegger  was  patented  in  1833, 
and  was  used  by  a  few;  the  Gallahue  pegging-machine,  which  re- 
quired to  be  operated  by  power,  was  considerably  in  use  by  1858, 
about  which  time  it  became  customary  to  supply  shoe-shops  with 
steam-power,  in  place  of  the  horse-power  and  man-power  previously 
employed. 

In  i860  came  the  McKay  sewing-machine,  which  created  a  tre- 
mendous revolution  in  methods  of  shoe  manufacture.     Before  its 


Belt-Knife  Splitting-Machine. 
(With  Chilson  auto-attachment  for  regulating  the  knife-grinder.) 

time  soles  were  sewed  on  by  hand-labor  in  most  laborious  fashion, 
each  requiring  a  good  hour's  work;  the  McKay  machine  sewed 
soles  at  the  rate  of  500  to  600  a  day,  and  b}^  1874  there  were  1200 
of  them  in  use  in  the  United  States,  and  in  1895,  4000?  with  a  pro- 
ducing capacity  of  120,000,000  pairs  annually. 

Lasting  is  the  operation  of  fitting  and  attaching  the  upper  to 
the  lower  parts  of  a  shoe  over  the  wooden  last  or  mould  that  deter- 
mines the  size  and  shape.  This  work  was  at  first  done  by  hand,  but 
after  about  1875  ^^'^^  performed  by  what  was  known  as  the  "■  bed" 
type  of  lasting-machine,  in  which  the  upper  was  drawn  over  the 
edge  of  the  last  by  pincers  or  sometimes  by  friction,  and  then  tacked 
on  by  hand.  During  the  last  few  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  automatic  lasting-machine  was  introduced,  which  employed  pin- 


536  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

cers  that  automatically  drew  the  leather  round  the  last,  while  a  tack- 
driving  mechanism  fixed  it  in  place.  A  more  recent  machine  is 
known  as  the  "  pulling-over"  machine;  this  has  adjustments  by 
which  the  operator  quickly  centres  the  shoe-upper  on  the  last,  after 
which  he  presses  a  foot-lever,  when  the  upper  is  drawn  taut  and 
tacked  automatically.  These  most  ingenious  machines  are  almost 
entirely  supplanting  hand-labor  for  the  lasting  of  all  sorts  of  shoes. 

The  universal  double-clinch  machine  for  fastening  the  soles  of 
shoes  with  clinched  bits  of  wire,  instead  of  sewing  them,  is  a  new 
machine  that  is  being  largely  adopted. 

The  Bigelow  heeling-machine,  for  pressing  the  heel  leather  into 
a  solid  mass,  and  setting  the  nails  for  driving,  was  introduced  about 
1870;  also  the  Bigelow  attacher,  for  driving  nails  and  attaching 
heels.  McKay  met  this  competition  by  bringing  out  a  heeling- 
machine  the  same  year,  and  these  two  machines  took  the  market, 
and  do  nearly  all  the  heeling  to-day. 

The  standard  screw-wire  machine  for  connecting  the  sole  and 
upper,  by  turning  a  screw  and  automatically  cutting  off  the  right 
length,  came  into  use  about  1875,  while  the  Buzzell  edge-trimming 
machine  appeared  in  the  following  year.  The  Goodyear  welt- 
machine,  which  produces  shoes  similar  to  hand-sewed,  has  been  the 
most  conspicuous  invention  since  the  McKay  machine  appeared. 
In  1880  250  were  in  use,  and  in  1885  the  number  had  swelled  to 
2500,  these  having  a  capacity  of  about  25,000,000  pairs  annually. 
Campbell's  welt-sewing  machine  appeared  in  1890,  and  the  Eppler 
welter  and  stitcher  came  into  use  during  the  next  few  years  fol- 
lowing. 

The  Davey  pegging-machine  has  revolutionized  the  manufac- 
ture of  pegged  boots  and  shoes.  The  work  is  pegged  on  a  horn, 
thus  saving  the  lasts,  which  were  cut  rapidly  under  the  punctures  of 
the  pegs.  There  are  cutting  devices  in  the  tip  of  the  horn  that  shear 
ofif  the  projecting  ends  of  the  pegs  as  fast  as  they  are  driven. 

In  the  census  year  1900  there  were  16,000  shoe  factories  in 
the  United  States,  with  a  total  capital  of  $102,000,000,  and  giving 
employment  to  150,000  persons,  of  whom  one-third  were  women 
and  children.  The  cost  of  the  leather  and  other  materials  used  was 
$170,000,000  a  year,  and  the  product  sold  was  valued  at  over  $261,- 
000,000.  The  business  has  only  shown  normal  growth  during  the 
past  twenty  years,  having  increased  some  thirty-three  per  cent.,  or 
about  as  fast  as  the  population  of  the  country.  The  number  of  wage- 
earners  is  actually  less  for  the  amount  of  product  than  it  was  either 
ten  or  twenty  years  ago,  improved  machinery  enabling  the  manu- 


THE  LEATHER  AND  SHOE  TRADES 


537 


facturer  to  produce  more  shoes  with  less  labor.  Twenty  years  ago 
shoes  used  to  pay  a  profit  to  both  manufacturer,  jobber  and  dealer, 
and  the  wages  of  the  salesman  of  each  had  to  be  added  to  the  price 
that  the  public  paid.  This  condition  has  been  largely  altered,  and 
the  manufacturers  and  retail  stores  now  have  very  close  relations, 
so  that  the  public  buys  its  shoes  at  but  a  slight  advance  on  manu- 
facturer's costs. 

Another  change  in  business  methods  has  been  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  contract  shops,  which  undertake  a  specific  por- 
tion of  the  work  of  making  a  shoe  and  sell  it  in  that  condition  to 
the  manufacturer  who  completes  the  work.  These  contract  shops 
do  such  work  as  stitching,  working  button-holes,  heeling,  etc.,  and 
are  a  special  feature  of  the  trade  in  Massachusetts.  That  State,  with 
its  numerous  factories  at  Brockton,  Lynn,  and  Haverhill,  leads  in 
the  boot  and  shoe  industry  of  the  United  States,  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  following.  The  following  table  of  materials  and 
products  used  by  the  shoe  factories  of  the  United  States  during  the 
year  1900  affords  some  idea  of  the  large  consumption  of  leather 
involved : 


Number 
of  Estab- 
lishments. 

Unit  of 
Measure. 

Quantity. 

Cost  of 
Materials  Used. 

Materials  : 

Sole  leather 

946 

273 
420 

587 
IOI9 

881 

1322 

986 
1553 

Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Pounds. 
Square  feet. 
Square  feet. 
Square  feet. 

178,504,837 

15,817,460 

10,569,581 

131,542,365 

233,050,841 

98,866,823 

39,192,300 
3,109,729 
7,069,408 
15,950,818 
35,398,638 
15,578,659 

7,429,156 

17,248,898 
12,902,750 

15,723,698 

Split  leather    

Calf  and  kip  skins 

Grain  and  other  side  leather.  . 

Goat-skins 

All  other  upper  materia! 

Sheep  and  leather  linings  and 
trimmings                          .... 

Cut   soles,   taps,    heels,    etc., 
purchased    .           

Findings,  purchased 

Fuel,  rent  of  power  and  heat, 
mill   supplies,   freight,    and 
all  other  materials 

Total 

6987 

668,351.907 

^169,604,054 

RUBBER  AND  RUBBER  GOODS 


India  rubber,  or  caoutchouc,  as  it  is  technically  called,  is  made 
from  the  gum  of  the  rubber  tree,  which  grows  principally  in  South 
America,  Central  America,  Mexico  and  the  East  Indies.  What 
is  known  as  Para  rubber  is  regarded  as  the  best,  being  named  from 
a  province  in  Brazil  whence  it  is  obtained.  The  Para  rubber-tree 
{Hez'ca  Gitiaiiciisis)  grows  to  a  considerable  size,  being  sometimes 
a  hundred  feet  in  height,  ^^•ith  a  handsome  spreading  top  and  glossy 


Tai^piiiK  a  Rubber- Trt 


Curiiis;  Rubber. 


foliage.  The  method  of  securing  the  rubber  is  to  tap  the  trunk  near 
the  base,  drawing  off  the  sap  into  a  cup,  much  as  a  maple-sugar  tree 
is  tapped.  Used  in  its  pure  state,  rubber  is  almost  valueless,  because 
it  melts  with  a  slight  degree  of  heat ;  it  therefore  requires  to  be 
mixed  with  something  that  will  check  this  tendency.  The  original 
Goodyear  method  for  rendering  rubber  useful  and  destroying  its 
adhesive  properties  consisted  in  applying  an  acid  solution  of  nitric 
acid  with  copper  or  bismuth ;  lime  was  also  incorporated  with 
the  gum  for  bleaching  it.  The  vulcanization  of  rubber  came  a  little 
later,  the  original  process  being  the  dissolving  of  sulphur  in  oil  of 
turpentine,  and  mixing  this  with  the  gum  before  subjecting  to 
the  treatment  with  a  metallic  acid  solution ;  after  which  the  com- 
position w^as  subjected  to  a  temperature  of  about  275°  to  300°  F. 
for  six  or  eight  hours.  What  is  known  as  soft  rubber  contains  only 
538 


RUBBER  AND  RUBBER  GOODS 


539 


a  small  portion  of  sulphur,  while  the  hard  rubber,  sometimes  called 
ebonite  or  vulcanite,  contains  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  per  cent,  of 
sulphur  and  requires  to  be  heated  for  a  longer  period. 

When  Charles  Goodyear  began  studying  and  experimenting 
with  India  rubber,  he  was  confined  in  a  debtor's  jail,  having  failed 
in  the  hardware  business  in  Boston.  He  studied  the  problem  to  such 
good  advantage  that  within  ten  years  he  was  the  leading  figure  in 
the  rubber  industry,  and  the  house  which  he  founded  became  domi- 
nant in  the  rubber  trade. 

The  Civil  \A'ar  gave  an  impetus  to  the  rubber  industry  by  cre- 
ating a  demand  for  rubber  blankets  for  the  soldiers.     A  little  later 


\'ie\v  in  Rubber  Works,  showing  Calendering  Machine. 

the  railways  became  large  customers,  using  it  for  packing  and  for 
hose-pipe.  It  also  came  into  considerable  use  for  belts,  vehicle  tires, 
floor  tiles,  and  parts  of  various  machines  and  tools.  There  is  a  large 
demand  in  the  manufacture  of  rubber  stamps  and  rubber  balls,  and 
■of  cushions  for  billiard-tables,  and  rings  for  fruit  jars.  The  mack- 
intosh began  to  replace  the  old  waterproof  coat  about  1883,  and 
some  twenty  factories  now  manufacture  them.  The  making  of  rub- 
ber articles  for  druggists'  sundries  is  also  a  considerable  business. 

In  1892  the  United  States  Rubber  Company  purchased  nearly 
all  the  rubber  footwear  concerns,  securing  a  considerable  reduction 
in  operating  expenses,  especially  in  the  price  of  crude  rubber.  This 
company  does  most  of  the  business  of  the  United  States  and  also 
sells  to  -a  very  large  part  of  the  European  trade.  They  kindly  fur- 
nished the  illustrations  for  this  article. 


540 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


When  the  crude  rubber  is  drawn  from  the  tree  it  is  first  sub- 
jected to  a  process  of  fumigation  over  a  lire  of  brushwood  or  pahn- 
nuts.  In  this  manner  it  is  considerably  condensed,  so  as  to  be  fit 
for  shipment.  When  this  crude  rubber  reaches  the  manufacturer  it 
is  liable  to  contain  more  or  less  bark,  dirt,  and  foreign  substances, 
and  in  order  to  get  rid  of  these  it  is  softened  in  hot  w^ater  for  a 
number  of  hours,  after  which  the  lump  is  sliced  and  the  larger 
impurities  removed  by  hand.  It  is  then  passed  through  corru- 
gated rolls,  being  at  the  same  time  subjected  to  a  washing;  this 
rolling  and  washing  are  repeated  until  the  rubber  is  wholly  purified. 
Sulphur  and  lampblack  are  then  worked  into  it  for  the  purpose  of 
hardening  and  coloring. 


Rubber  Boot  Manufacture. 

Rubber  boots  and  shoes,  rubber  blankets,  and  a  great  variety 
of  other  articles  commonly  spoken  of  as  being  made  of  rubber, 
include  a  basis  or  fabric  of  stout  cloth,  which  give  strength  as  well 
as  form  to  the  rubber.  In  making  these,  the  sheet  of  rubber  is 
passed  through  the  calendering-machine  together  with  a  stout  back- 
ing of  cloth,  till  the  two  are  incorporated  into  one  fabric.  Such 
fabrics  are  made  in  different  thicknesses  for  making  the  different 
parts  of  a  shoe  or  boot,  the  top,  soles,  heels,  etc.,  being  cut  out  with 
dies.  These  parts  are  brought  together  on  forms  or  lasts,  and  ce- 
mented with  rubber,  after  which  a  coat  of  rubber  varnish  is  applied, 
and  the  completed  shoe  is  taken  to  the  vulcanizing  oven. 

The  Roxbury  India  Rubber  Company,  which  began  business 


RUBBER  AND  RUBBER  GOODS 


541 


in  1833,  is  said  to  have  been  the  pioneer  concern  in  the  United  States, 
their  work  being  based  on  the  discoveries  of  a  Mr.  Chaffee.    Charles 


Grinding  and  Cleaning  Rubber. 


Goodyear  came  into  the  industry  a  httle  later,  and  made  important 
improvements.     Alexander  Parks,  of  Birmingham,  discovered  the 


Varnishing:  Rubbers. 


process   known   as   cold   vulcanizing,    which   is   accomplished   with 
chloride  of  sulphur. 

Good  soft  India  rubber,  as  manufactured  to-day,  will  retain  its 


542 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


elasticity  at  a  heat  as  great  as  248°  F.  and  cold  as  low  as  — 22°  F. 
It  cannot  be  dissolved  by  ordinary  solvents. 

The  growth  of  the  boot  and  shoe  rubber  industry  in  the  United 
States  by  decades  is  well  shown  in  the  following  table,  taken  from 
the  United  States  census  report.  From  this  it  is  apparent  that  the 
business  is  doubled  about  every  ten  years.  Although  there  were 
only  twenty-two  rubber  manufacturing  concerns  in  the  country  in 
1900,  their  total  capital  was  nearly  $34,000,000.  The  industry  is 
principally  confined  to  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island,  although  there  are  two  factories  in  Pennsylvania,  two  in 
New  Jersey,  and  one  in  Missouri.  Most  of  these  concerns  manu- 
facture other  rubber  goods  besides  boots  and  shoes,  but  the  foot- 
wear constitutes  by  far  the  largest  part  of  their  output.  The  aggre- 
gate value  of  the  rubber  boots  and  shoes  manufactured  in  the  United 
States  in  the  year  1900  was  over  $41,000,000,  this  representing 
50,000,000  pairs  of  boots,  shoes,  tennis  shoes,  and  what  are  techni- 
cally known  as  felt  boots.  The  six  establishments  in  Massachusetts 
control  nearly  one-third  of  the  business  of  the  country.  The  indus- 
try gives  employment  to  18,000  people  during  the  busy  season,  of 
whom  about  three-eighths  are  women.  There  are  no  complete  sta- 
tistics of  the  products  of  other  rubber  goods. 


1900 
CAPITAL 

MATERIALS 

PRODUCTS 
1890 
CAPITAL 

MATERIALS 

PRODUCTS 
1880 
CAPITAL 

MATERIALS 

PRODUCTS 


44 


Rubber  Boots  and  Shoes. 
Comparative  increase  of  capital,  material,  and  products, 
Millions  of  Dollars. 


to  1900  inclusive. 


THE    MANUFACTURE    OF    LIQUORS 

There  are  three  distinct  branches  of  liquor  manufacture — dis- 
tilHng,  brewing,  and  wine-making.  The  strong  liquors,  such  as 
alcohol,  whiskey,  gin  and  rum,  are  made  in  distilleries;  malt 
liquors,  as  beer,  ale,  and  porter,  are  made  in  breweries;  while  the 
manufacture  of  wine  is  carried  on  mostly  in  small  establishments 
by  the  old-time  process  of  simple  fermentation  and  aging.  The 
principle  upon  which  distilling  is  based  is  that  alcohol  boils  or  vapor- 
izes at  173°  F.,  while  water  requires  a  temperature  of  212°  F.  before 
it  begins  to  boil  and  make  steam.  Any  acjueous  liquor  containing 
alcohol,  when  heated  over  173°  and  under  212°  F.  will  give  off 
alcoholic  vapor,  which  has  only  to  be  condensed  again  to  secure 
alcohol.  The  process  is  therefore  so  simple  that  it  may  be  accom- 
plished without  expensive  machinery. 

The  production  of  alcohol  by  natural  means  is  brought  about 
by  a  ferment,  which  adds  a  small  percentage  of  alcohol  to  the  licjuor 
affected.  The  origin  of  alcoholic  drinks  is  lost  in  antiquity.  Bever- 
ages made  from  fermented  fruits  were  known  to  man  at  the  earliest 
period  of  human  history,  but  distilled  liquors,  which  are  stronger  in 
alcohol,  are  comparatively  modern,  coming  into  being  with  the  in- 
vention of  the  still.  The  early  fermented  liquors  were  made  of 
fruits  or  brewed  from  hops.  Now  corn,  wheat  and  rye  are  the  prin- 
cipal sources  of  alcoholic  or  distilled  liquors.  Since  distilled  or  spir- 
ituous liquors  came  into  general  use  there  has  existed  a  strong  move- 
ment in  favor  of  restriction  of  the  traffic  and  sale,  which  has  found 
expression  in  temperance  agitation,  and  sometimes  in  prohibition ; 
and  has  frequently  resulted  in  legislation  to  tax  and  regulate  the 
traffic. 

The  strong  liquors  are  mostly  distilled  from  grain,  because 
grain  is  cheaper  than  fruit ;  corn,  wheat  and  rye  are  the  grains 
principally  favored  by  the  distiller.  In  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
and  West  Virginia  mostly  rye  whiskey  is  produced,  while  most 
of  the  Tennessee  whiskey  is  made  from  wheat,  and  corn  whiskey 
is  made  in  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union.  The  United  States 
census  of  1900  reports  2835  establishments  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing liquors,  of  whom  967  are  classed  as  distillers,  having  a  total 
capital  of  $33,000,000.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  about  a  dozen  concerns 
have  nearly  all  the  capital  and  do  nearly  all  the  legitimate  distilling 

543 


fg     is.  ml 


X,'  ca 

I  s- 

•=  -a 

o  ^ 

M  O 

1)  "■ 

o  ■" 


THE    MANUFACTURE    OF   LIQUORS  545 

that  is  done  in  the  country.  The  malt-hquor  trade  is  very  much 
larger,  not  in  the  number  of  estabhshments,  there  being  but  1509 
breweries  in  the  country,  but  in  the  capital  invested,  which  is  $415,- 
000,000,  and  in  the  number  of  people  employed,  which  foots  up 
47,000,  or  more  than  ten  times  as  many  as  the  distilled-liquor  and 
wine-making  trade  combined.  The  distillers  use  up  $15,000,000 
worth  of  material  annually  to  produce  $97,000,000  worth  of  dis- 
tilled liquor,  while  the  breweries  use  up  $52,000,000  worth  of  mate- 
rial to  produce  $237,000,000  worth  of  malt  liquors.  It  would  appear 
from  the  value  of  this  product  that  the  distilling  industry  was  over 
forty  per  cent,  as  large  as  the  brewing  industry,  but  this  is  not  the 
case ;  the  value  of  the  distilled  liquor  being  very  largely  created  by 
the  Government  tax,  which  since  1865  has  varied  all  the  way  from 
fifty  cents  to  two  dollars  per  gallon  of  proof  spirits — that  is  to  say, 
from  two  to  six  times  the  value  of  the  liquor  itself. 

In  1900  24,000,000  bushels  of  grain  were  used  for  manufac- 
turing alcoholic  liquors  in  the  United  States,  producing  an  average 
of  4.16  gallons  per  bushel.  Of  the  different  grains  used  sixty-eight 
per  cent,  was  corn.  These  figures,  of  course,  only  include  such  liquor 
as  was  manufactured  in  a  legal  and  public  way,  and  subject  to  taxa- 
tion. The  amount  of  alcoholic  liquor  made  in  illicit  distilleries  is 
known  to  be  large,  because  of  the  great  temptation  offered  by  the 
difference  in  price,  but  the  quantity  so  made  cannot  even  be  esti- 
mated. It  is  certain  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  consume 
an  average  of  one  and  one-fifth  gallons  of  legitimate  strong  liquors 
every  year.  The  proprietors  of  large  distilleries  often  complain  bit- 
terly of  the  way  in  which  the  business  is  taxed,  but  public  sentiment 
appears  to  favor  this  method  of  securing  a  large  public  revenue. 

The  distilleries  make  the  largest  quantity  of  spirits  during  the 
winter  months,  there  being  five  times  as  much  manufactured  in 
January  as  in  August.  The  production  of  any  one  month  or  one 
year  is  no  indication  of  the  consumption,  as  a  great  part  of  the 
product  manufactured  is  placed  in  bonded  warehouses,  where  it  is 
subject  to  the  watch  and  care  of  Government  officials,  but  is  not 
required  to  pay  a  tax  within  eight  years,  unless  it  is  taken  out. 
Under  these  conditions  it  has  become  important  for  the  manufacturer 
and  the  Government  also  to  know  exactly  the  percentage  of  alcohol 
in  given  liquors,  and  the  measurement  of  this  has  become  a  very 
exact  science.  The  rectified  spirit,  or  so-called  pure  alcohol  of  the 
druggist,  has  nine  per  cent,  weight  of  water ;  while  what  is  known 
as  proof  spirit  is  54}^  per  cent,  water,  according  to  United  States 
statute. 

35 


Views  in  a  Brewery. 
I,  The  fermenting  vats  ;  2,  the  brew-kettle  room  ;  3,  portable  filters. 


THE   MANUFACTURE    OF   LIQUORS  547 

While  beer  was  brewed  in  New  York  by  the  early  Dutch  set- 
tlers, lager  beer  was  not  brewed  as  a  business  until  1843,  when  a 
brewery  was  established  in  New  York  at  Broadway  and  Nineteenth 
Street.  About  the  same  time  a  brewery  was  started  in  Philadelphia. 
Curious  as  it  now  seems,  lager  beer  became  the  fashionable  drink, 
and  was  bought  by  the  bucketful  by  the  swell  families  of  New  York 
for  their  Sunday  dinners  and  other  important  occasions,  whiskeys 
(which  were  not  then  taxed)  being  too  cheap  to  be  regarded  as  good. 
Thus  it  happened  that  William  F.  Havemeyer  and  Daniel  F.  Tie- 
mann  (each  of  them  afterwards  mayor  of  New  York)  were  among 
the  first  customers  of  the  brewery. 

Lager  beer  was  principally  a  winter  drink  until  the  introduction 
of  ice  enabled  the  brewing  of  a  summer  supply.  The  American  still 
demands  a  colder  beer  than  the  German  requires.  It  was  not  until 
the  industry  had  been  established  many  years  that  it  became  cus- 
tomary to  put  up  the  beer  in  barrels  and  kegs. 

The  breweries  of  the  United  States  did  not  have  such  an  enor- 
mous lead  in  business  over  the  distillers  before  the  Civil  War;  but 
the  heavy  taxes  imposed  on  the  distillers  at  the  time  of  the  war 
created  a  condition  favorable  to  the  brewers,  of  which  they  took  full 
advantage,  as  appears  by  the  following  figures:  in  1863  the  pro- 
duction of  beer  in  the  United  States  was  2,000,000  barrels ;  by 
1870  it  had  risen  to  6,500,000;  by  1880  to  13,350,000;  and  by 
1890  to  27,500,000,  and  by  1900  to  39,330,000  barrels. 

During  the  ten  years  from  1890  to  1900  the  materials  used 
by  the  brewers  decreased  in  cost  over  nineteen  per  cent.,  while  the 
value  of  the  product  sold  increased  almost  thirty  per  cent. ;  nearly 
all  of  this  increased  value,  however,  being  attributable  to  taxation. 
The  reduction  of  cost  in  manufacture  came  from  the  lower  prices  at 
which  hops,  barley,  and  corn  were  purchased,  and  to  improved 
methods  of  manufacture,  causing  a  more  thorough  extraction  of 
the  malt  liquor. 

The  growth  of  the  brewing  industry  of  the  country  is  more 
noteworthy  when  a  comparison  is  made  between  its  condition  in 
1850  and  1900.  During  that  period  the  number  of  establishments 
making  malt  liquors  increased  from  43 1  to  1 509 ;  the  invested  capi- 
tal increased  from  $4,000,000  to  $415,000,000;  the  value  of  the 
products  increased  from  $8,000,000  to  $237,000,000.  The  taxes 
paid  the  United  States  Government  in  1900  by  the  brewing  industry 
amounted  to  $104,000,000,  or  about  one-tenth  of  the  entire  expenses 
of  the  Government. 

A  prominent  cause  of  the  increased  capitalization  of  breweries 


548 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


during  recent  years  has  been  the  investment  required  in  new  ma- 
chinery required  to  make  better  and  cheaper  beer.  It  is  asserted 
that  American-made  beer  is  now  both  the  best  and  the  cheapest  in 
the  world.  As  formerly  manufactured,  beer  was  subject  to  all  sorts 
of  diseases  arising  from  bacteria,  but  the  investigations  of  Pasteur, 
Hansem,  and  others  were  taken  advantage  of  by  the  brewers  to 
introduce  more  scientific  methods  of  manufacture.  They  now  use 
closed  apparatus  for  cooling,  and  employ  for  ventilation  air  that  has 


Barnard's  Water-Cooling  Apparatus  for  Breweries,  etc. 


been  filtered  and  rendered  germ-proof;  the  water  is  also  sterilized, 
and  the  whole  product  protected  from  the  time  it  leaves  the  hop- 
brew  kettle  until  the  stopper  is  removed  from  the  bottle  by  the  con- 
sumer. The  introduction  of  the  ice-machine  has  been  a  very  great 
advantage  to  brewers,  who  rely  on  it  in  a  great  many  of  their 
modern  processes.  Another  improvement  is  the  collection  and  utili- 
zation in  its  purity  of  the  carbonic  acid  gas  formed  during  fermen- 
tation. The  finished  product  is  now  charged  with  the  best  natural 
carbonic  acid  gas  to  give  it  the  necessary  life  and  sparkling  quality. 

In  1894  the  leading  brewers  of  the  country  formed  an  industrial 
combination  for  protecting  the  industry,  this  being  generally  known 
as  the  Brewers'  Trust. 

France  is  the  wine-making  country  of  the  world,  Italy  being 
second,  and  Spain  third,  while  the  United  States  is  practically  no- 


THE    MANUFACTURE    OF   LIQUORS  549 

where,  as  shown  by  the  following  table  of  the  world's  crop  of  wme 
for  1 901  : 

France    1,530,000,000  gallons. 

Italy    1,013,000,000 

Spain    520,000,000 

Portugal    155,000,000 

Algeria  146,000,000 

Austria 1 16,000,000 

United  States 40,000,000 

The  above  shows  how  insignificant  is  the  wine-making  in- 
dustry of  the  United  States.  Nearly  all  the  wine  we  make  is  pro- 
duced by  small  concerns  in  the  districts  where  the  fruit  is  grown, 
though  there  are  a  few  large  establishments. 

The  bottling  industry  of  the  United  States  comprises  a  total 
of  sixty- four  establishments,  capitalized  at  $17,000,000;  employing 
8000  wage-earners,  and  selling  products  valued  at  $42,000,000.  The 
mineral-soda  and  soda-water  manufacturers  number  2815,  have  a 
capital  of  $21,000,000,  employ  9000  workers,  and  make  annual  sales 
of  $24,000,000. 

Of  course,  conditions  of  the  liquor  industry  are  affected  largely 
by  the  state  of  public  sentiment.  Those  who  regard  fermented  and 
distilled  liquor  as  an  evil,  think  that  the  larger  the  business  the  worse 
off  is  the  country;  while  those  who  look  upon  the  production  of 
liquor  in  the  same  manner  they  would  regard  the  manufacture  of 
stoves,  view  the  large  proportions  of  the  industry  in  America  as 
one  indication  of  national  progress  and  development. 


THE    TOBACCO    INDUSTRY 

Theoretically,  tobacco  is  a  luxury ;  practically,  it  is  a  neces- 
sity with  four  men  out  of  five.  No  acquired  habit  has  a  stronger 
hold  on  human  kind  than  the  use  of  tobacco.  Twenty-five  years 
ago  only  about  half  the  male  population  over  fifteen  years  of  age 
were  addicted  to  smoking ;  now  it  is  hard  to  find  one  man  in  twenty 
who  will  refuse  a  cigar.  The  tobacco  plant  is  one  of  the  most  highly 
cultivated,  yielding  the  farmer  a  larger  return  per  acre  than  almost 
any  other  crop;  $400  worth  of  tobacco  is  not  an  uncommon  yield 
per  acre  under  good  management.  The  leaves  of  the  plant  are  pre- 
pared for  use  by  a  process  of  curing  which  consists  in  exposure  to 
air  and  moisture  under  certain  conditions,  the  result  being  a  fer- 
mentation that  develops  the  aroma  and  flavor.  The  nature  of  the 
tobacco  is  graded  as  trash,  lugs,  seconds  and  leaf.  The  leaf  is  still 
curing  as  by  the  growing  of  the  plant. 

Inasmuch  as  most  tobacco  is  made  into  cigars,  the  leaves  are 
primarily  graded  for  use  as  fillers,  binders,  and  wrappers ;  chewing- 
tobacco  is  graded  as  trash,  lugs,  seconds,  and  leaf.  The  leaf  is  still 
further  sorted  as  short,  long,  dark,  red,  bright,  mottled  and  yellow, 
as  to  color ;  and  as  to  moisture,  into  light,  heavy,  gummy  and  fatty. 
For  export  there  are  also  grades  known  as  spinners,  saucers,  cutters, 
shag,  regie,  bailers,  etc. 

The  ordinary  tobacco  plant  is  technically  known  as  Nicotiana 
Tabacum,  and  grows  from  three  to  six  feet  tall,  having  large  oval 
pointed  leaves  and  pink  funnel  flowers.  Kentucky  and  North  Caro- 
lina are  the  leading  tobacco-growing  States  of  the  South,  while 
Connecticut  takes  the  lead  in  the  North. 

Each  tobacco  plant  is  supposed  to  yield  suitable  material  for  use 
as  fillers,  binders  and  wrappers,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  soil 
that  grows  the  best  wrappers  does  not  give  the  best  fillers,  and  there- 
fore the  best  cigars  are  apt  to  be  made  from  tobacco  grown  in  dif- 
ferent sections.  In  the  Connecticut  Valley  the  farmers  grow  a  fine 
wrapper  and  binder,  while  in  the  strong  heavy  soil  of  Ohio  there 
is  grown  a  dark  tobacco  that  is  more  suitable  for  fillers,  or  for 
export  to  a  market  that  prefers  a  dark  tobacco.  Along  the  rivers 
of  Pennsylvania  there  is  good  soil  for  growing  wrappers,  but  away 
from  the  rivers  the  crop  is  principally  suited  for  fillers. 

The  methods  of  growing  and  curing  tobacco  vary  more  or  less 

550 


THE    TOBACCO    INDUSTRY 


551 


with  the  locaHty.  In  Connecticut  the  custom  is  to  plant  the  tobacco 
in  rows  three  and  a  half  to  four  feet  apart,  the  plants  in  each  row 
being  eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches  apart.  The  small  black  seeds 
are  first  sown  in  mellow  beds  of  rich  ground  that  are  sheltered,  the 
seed  being  sprouted  between  sods  or  in  decaying  wood.  The  growth 
of  the  small  plant  is  expedited  by  placing  under  glass.  The  sowing 
is  done  about  the  beginning  of  April,  if  the  frost  is  all  out  of  the 
ground,  and  the  plants  are  ready  for  transplanting  two  months 
later.  The  soil  having  been  previously  well  plowed  and  harrowed, 
fertilizer  is  put  into  the  hole  with  each  plant,  which  is  also  well 


Courtesy  Frank  Leslie's  Populzir  Monthly. 

Duke's  Original  Factory  at  Durham,  North  Carolina. 


watered.  While  the  plants  are  growing,  the  cultivator  is  run 
through  three  or  four  times  to  kill  off  the  weeds.  The  plant  is 
topped  by  taking  off  the  surplus  leaves  until  only  fifteen  to  eighteen 
remain,  the  number  being  determined  by  the  thriftiness  of  the  plant. 
In  about  ninety  days,  when  the  middle  leaves  of  the  plant  are  ripe, 
comes  the  time  for  cutting.  Each  plant  is  cut  close  to  the  ground 
with  a  hatchet  or  saw,  and  laid  in  the  sun  to  wilt.  Care  must  be 
taken  not  to  do  this  when  there  is  danger  of  a  rainstorm.  After 
perhaps  two  hours  of  exposure  the  plants  are  strung  five  or  six  on 
a  lath,  and  carried  to  the  barn,  where  they  are  hung  on  poles.  The 
best  tobacco  barns  are  provided  with  artificial  heat,  and  after  the 


552 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


plants  have  dried  on  the  pole  for  eight  or  ten  weeks,  the  leaves  are 
stripped  from  the  stalks,  this  work  being  done  on  damp  days  in 
order  to  avoid  breaking  the  leaves  through  brittleness ;  if  there  is 
no  damp  weather  the  butts  are  sometimes  sprinkled.  After  stripping 
off,  the  leaves  are  put  in  paper-lined  boxes,  and  in  these  boxes  they 
are  usually  sold  to  dealers,  bringing  a  better  price  if  first  sorted  and 
tied  into  bundles. 

Fermentation  or  sweating  is  usually  done  by  the  packers.  For 
this  purpose  large  wooden  cases,  holding  about  three  hundred  pounds 
each,  are  used ;  the  boards  of  the  cases  are  placed  about  half  an 
inch  apart  to  allow  a  circulation  of  air.  On  the  bottom  of  each  box 
is  placed  a  layer  of  seconds,  as  the  outside  does  not  sweat  readily. 
The  leaves  are  packed  with  the  butts  out,  and  are  tightly  pressed  so 
as  to  exclude  the  air,  the  top  of  the  box  being  screwed  on.  These 
boxes  are  stored  in  a  warehouse  to  sweat,  remaining  in  the  cases  all 
winter,  so  that  the  tobacco  never  reaches  the  consumer  until  it  is  at 
least  a  year  old.  If  it  were  not  kept  and  sweated  and  fermented,  it 
would  not  have  the  aroma  and  flavor  that  smokers  enjoy. 

A  favorite  tobacco  is  the  white  Burley,  grown  in  the  blue-grass 
region  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio.  This  plant  is  white  while  young,  and 
has  a  long  narrow  leaf.  It  is  rehandled  and  resweated  by  manufac- 
turers, and  when  cured  has  a  reddish-brown  leaf  of  mild  flavor  and 
great  absorbing  quality,  which  latter  admits  of  making  a  sweet 
chewing  plug.  The  Sumatra  tobacco  is  "  petuned"  by  spraying  or 
sometimes  by  dipping  into  a  thick  fusion  made  of  tobacco  stems  of 
the  best  quality,  to  which  are  added  molasses,  cider,  rum,  or  some- 
times sour  w^ine.  It  is  stored  for  at  least  two  years  after  petuning,, 
losing  the  harshness  of  fresh  tobacco  and  improving  with  age. 

The  light  yellow  tobacco  of  the  Carolinas  is  grown  in  sandy 
soil  and  topped  down  to  eight  or  twelve  leaves.  The  Connecticut 
and  Pennsylvania  seed-leaf  tobacco  is  silky  when  cured,  and  is  char- 
acterized by  a  broad  and  thin,  though  strong  leaf.  The  Cuban 
tobacco  has  numerous  leaves,  is  small  and  fragrant.  The  famous. 
Perique  tobacco  is  grown  in  the  wet  bottom  lands  of  Louisiana,  and 
owes  its  peculiar  flavor  and  aroma  to  the  method  of  curing  in  its 
own  juices.  It  has  a  fine  fibre,  medium  leaf,  and  is  rich,  gummy, 
and  dark,  being  so  strong  that  it  is  commonly  mixed  with  milder 
kinds.  In  curing  it  is  subjected  to  pressure,  which  is  relieved  once 
a  day  (so  that  it  can  be  aired)  during  the  first  ten  days,  and  after 
that  at  longer  periods.  By  this  treatment  the  juices  are  squeezed 
out  and  reabsorbed,  until  they  permeate  the  whole,  and  the  leaves 
become  quite  dark.    The  manner  of  putting  up  this  tobacco  is  unique,, 


THE    TOBACCO    INDUSTRY 


553 


it  being  rolled  in  cloth  and  wrapped  with  a  small  rope,  the  packages 
usually  weighing  four  pounds  each,  although  they  are  sometimes 
made  smaller. 

Tobaccos  for  export  are  put  up  with  regard  to  the  taste  of  the 
trade  in  the  country  to  which  they  go.  Indeed,  this  is  largely  true 
of  the  United  States  also,  as  some  localities  demand  a  different  color 
or  flavor  from  others.  Tobacco  for  German  use  requires  to  be  fat, 
heavy  bodied,  and  with  a  strong  and  tough  leaf  of  considerable 
length,  but  the  fatness  is  the  chief  requisite.  The  Italian  trade  calls 
for  a  lighter  tobacco,   smooth  and  silky,   with  more  attention  to 


Courtesy  Frank  Leslie's  Popular  Monthl}'. 

The  Present  Duke  Factory  at  Durham.     (Branch  of  the  Tobacco  Trust.) 

length  than  fatness.  The  French  demand  a  still  lighter  tobacco,  pre- 
ferring a  reddish  color,  and  do  not  care  much  for  fatness  or  elas- 
ticity, but  demand  a  clear  leaf  that  is  supple.  The  English  trade 
demands  tobacco  very  similar  to  the  German,  while  Spain  takes  the 
poorest  quality  of  tobacco  that  is  exported  from  the  United  States. 

The  manufacturing  of  tobacco  in  the  United  States  has  become 
concentrated  within  recent  years,  the  American  Tobacco  Company, 
popularly  known  as  the  Tobacco  Trust,  exercising  a  dominating 
influence  in  the  wholesale  trade  of  America,  and  having  close  rela- 
tions with  the  Continental  companies.  The  one  man  who  more  than 
any  other  brought  about  this  result  is  J.  B.  Duke,  president  of  the 


554 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


American  Tobacco  Company,  whose  first  and  last  factories  are  here 
illustrated  through  the  courtesy  of  Frank  Leslie's  Monthly.  The 
trust  idea  grew  out  of  the  development  of  the  cigarette  business, 
which  began  to  boom  in  1876.  By  1880  the  cigarette  trade  was 
thirty  times  as  great  as  in  1870.  The  total  was  again  doubled  by 
1885,  and  again  in  1890,  the  output  of  the  latter  year  being  over 
two  billion.  The  Duke  concern  became  very  active  in  the  cigarette 
field,  being  lavish  advertisers.  So  much  money  was  spent  by  the 
five  leading  firms  in  trying  to  outdo  each  other  that  Mr.  Duke  made 
a  successful  effort  and  consolidated  them  in  1890.  when  the  Ameri- 
can Tobacco  Company  was  formed.  After  that  a  contest  was  waged 
with  the  Lorillard  Company  and  Leggitt  &  Meyers,  the  chief  weapon 
being  "  Battle-Ax,"  a  brand  of  plug  manufactured  by  the  American 
Company  on  which  they  spent  $4,000,000  and  made  $12,000,000. 
Then  there  was  a  long  advertising  war  between  the  American's 
"  Honest"  and  Lorillard's  "  Red  Cross," — Leggitt  &  Meyers,  and 
Blackwell's  Durham  Company,  and  the  National  Cigarette  and 
Tobacco  Company  being  parties  to  the  general  struggle  for  business. 
Li  1898  all  these  concerns  consolidated  as  the  Union  Tobacco  Com- 
pany, with  the  apparent  object  of  fighting  the  American  Tobacco 
Company,  but  six  months  later  Mr.  Duke  took  them  all  into  the 
latter  company,  which  at  this  writing  has  no  real  competition  in 
the  cigarette  trade  of  America,  the  smaller  dealers  contenting  them- 
selves with  calling  their  wares  anti-trust.  The  American  Cigar 
Company  is  an  offshoot  of  the  American  Tobacco  Company,  and  so 
is  the  Havana-American  Company  and  the  Havana  Tobacco  Com- 
pany. It  has  also  been  charged  that  the  United  Cigar  Stores  Com- 
pany is  a  creature  of  the  trust,  but  this  is  officially  denied. 

An  international  tobacco  war  was  started  in  1901,  when  the 
capitalists  of  the  American  Tobacco  Company  secured  Ogden's 
Limited,  a  well-known  brand  of  British  tobacco,  and  began  pushing 
for  British  trade  with  American  advertising  methods.  After  a 
short  struggle  with  the  Imperial  Tobacco  Company,  peace  was  de- 
clared, and  they  purchased  Ogden's  Limited  at  Mr.  Duke's  figure, 
while  the  British  Company  agreed  to  keep  out  of  the  United  States 
and  its  dependencies. 

An  important  feature  of  the  development  of  the  cigarette  busi- 
ness during  the  last  few  years  has  been  the  popularity  of  Turkish 
cigarettes,  which  are  nearly  controlled  by  the  American  Tobacco 
Company,  so  that  the  trust  now  has  a  dominating  position  in  the 
cigarette,  manufactured  tobacco,  and  snuff  trade,  while  it  has  a 
prominent  position  in  cigar  manufacturing. 


THE    TOBACCO    INDUSTRY  555 

The  retail  value  of  the  tobacco  annually  consumed  in  the  United 
States  is  figured  at  $500,000,000,  the  total  number  of  cigars  smoked 
being  7,000,000,000,  while  3,000,000,000  cigarettes  and  280,000,000 
pounds  of  manufactured  tobacco  go  to  make  up  the  remainder  of 
the  total. 

The  United  States  imported  in  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1903,  34,000,000  pounds  of  tobacco,  valued  at  $17,250,000;  we 
exported  over  ten  times  as  much — 377,000,000  pounds — valued  at 
$40,500,000.  The  price  shows  that  the  imports  were  a  much  higher 
grade  of  tobacco  than  the  exports.  The  following  figures  are  from 
the  census  of  1900: 

Tobacco  was  grown  in  the  United  States  in  1899  by  308,317 
farmers.  The  total  area  devoted  to  the  crop  was  1,101,483  acres, 
and  the  total  production  was  868,163,275  pounds,  an  increase  in 
area  since  1889  0^  406,182  acres,  or  58.4  per  cent.,  and  a  gain  in 
production  of  379,906,629  pounds,  or  77.8  per  cent.  Of  the  entire 
area  devoted  to  tobacco,  465,754  acres,  or  42.3  per  cent.,  were  in  the 
South  Atlantic  division.  Of  this  amount  North  Carolina  contrib- 
uted 43.6  per  cent,  and  Virginia  39.6  per  cent.  The  South  Central 
division  contained  461,855  acres,  or  41.9  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
acreage,  and  of  this  amount  Kentucky,  which  leads  the  country  in 
tobacco  production,  contributed  83.3  per  cent.  The  North  Atlantic 
division  contained  4.8  per  cent  of  the  entire  acreage,  and  the  North 
Central  10.9  per  cent.,  with  only  fifty-four  acres  reported  from  the 
Western  division.  The  total  value  of  the  crop  in  1899  was  $56,- 
993,003,  or  an  average  of  $184.85  for  each  farm  reporting.  The 
average  yield  per  acre  was  788  pounds,  and  the  average  value  per 
pound  to  the  producer  seven  cents. 

Of  the  tobacco  manufactured  in  1898,  286,453,738  pounds 
were  in  the  form  of  chewing  and  smoking  tobacco  and  snuff,  and 
106,855,524  pounds  in  the  form  of  cigars  and  cigarettes. 


PETROLEUM    AND    OIL    REFINING 

Oil  was  first  '*  struck"  in  the  United  States  in  1858,  and  for 
the  past  quarter  of  a  century  it  has  been  one  of  our  leading  indus- 
tries. The  search  for  precious  metals  and  valuable  jewel  stones  has 
driven  men  to  mining  in  the  far-off  regions  of  the  earth,  often  going 
deeper  and  deeper  in  pursuit  of  a  rich  vein.  But  when  oil  is  struck, 
it  rushes  to  meet  the  finder,  and  his  care  is  to  provide  for  and  save 
the  flood  of  oily  riches  poured  out  by  the  gushing  well.  In  the  early 
days  of  oil-wells  much  of  the  product  was  often  lost  because  of  in- 
ability to  store  the  oil  in  barrels  or  carry  it  off  as  fast  as  it  flowed, 
and  this  is  still  the  case  in  new  fields  where  there  are  no  pipe-lines 
or  the  tankage  is  inadecjuate. 

For  many  years  we  led  the  world  in  the  production  of  petro- 
leum, but  in  1897  Russia  passed  us  in  the  quantity  obtained  from 
her  wells,  but  the  United  States  recovered  first  place  in  1902.  We 
lead  the  world  in  the  refining  branch  of  the  industry.  The  proba- 
bilities are  that  Russian  oil-fields  will  increase  in  production,  and 
that  they  will  learn  to  do  more  refining,  which  will  injure  our 
export  trade.  At  the  present  time  their  facilities  for  handling  oil 
are  comparatively  crude,  and  their  markets  are  at  a  distance.  With 
more  pipe-lines  and  more  modern  American  pumping  machinery 
and  up-to-date  refineries  they  will  naturally  secure  the  bulk  of  the 
trade  of  the  Old  World. 

Petroleum  was  first  observed  as  oil  floating  on  the  creeks  in 
Pennsylvania  and  was  gathered  by  the  Indians  by  spreading  blankets 
on  the  oily  water.  Well-digging  began  in  1858—59,  the  first  wells 
being  literally  dug  into  the  ground.  Then  came  the  method  known 
as  "  jerking  down  a  well."  This  consisted  in  attaching  a  falling 
tool  to  a  spring  pole,  and  alternately  raising  and  dropping  it.  This 
method  was  improved  upon  by  operating  what  were  known  as  free- 
falling  tools  by  a  horse-power,  the  horse  being  led  around  in  a  circle. 
An  advanced  method  was  introduced  later  by  operating  the  tools 
with  a  reversible  steam-engine,  known  as  a  link-engine,  such  as 
that  here  illustrated,  made  by  the  Oil  Well  Supply  Company,  of  Oil 
City,  Pennsylvania.  Steel  derricks  are  built  sometimes  nearly  100 
feet  in  height,  from  the  top  of  which  the  falling  tools  are  suspended 
by  a  rope,  being  hauled  up  by  the  engine  and  allowed  to  drop  into 
the  hole,  which  is  thus  deepened  at  every  stroke. 

Different  methods  of  drilling  are  sometimes  required,  owing 
to  the  nature  of  the  substrata  through  which  the  tools  have  to  pass. 

556 


PETROLEUM    AND    OIL    REFINING 


557 


In  some  shallow  districts  it  has  been  found  advisable  to  use  a  rotary 
drill,  though  this  method  is  not  very  common.  In  other  localities, 
when  drilling  through  loose  formations  and  clay,  it  is  impossible  to 
use  free  falling  tools,  and  a  hydraulic  method  has  been  substituted. 
In  the  new  Texas  field  clay  is  often  encountered,  and  for  cutting 


Courtesy  Scientific  Americati. 


Oil-Derrick  in  Java. 


through  this  hydraulic  drilling  has  been  adopted  to  a  considerable 
extent. 

At  Summerland,  California,  about  a  hundred  submarine  oil- 
wells  are  in  successful  operation,  these  being  located  on  or  off  the 
beach,  some  of  them  where  the  water  is  twenty-five  feet  deep  at 


558  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

low  tide.  The  method  of  drilling  these  wells  differs  but  slightly 
from  the  method  followed  on  land.  A  large  pipe,  called  a  con- 
ductor, is  run  through  the  water  and  porous  sandy  bottom  into  the 
hard  clay  beneath,  and  through  this  conductor  the  casing  proper  is 
sunk.  A  wharf  is  built  from  the  shore  to  the  derrick,  this  being 
usually  a  substantial  pile  structure. 

When  oil  is  reached,  a  petroleum  well  flows  for  a  time  from 
internal  pressure,  spouting  usually  with  great  force.  After  a  time 
the  pressure  is  relieved,  and  eventually  pumping  has  to  be  adopted 
to  bring  up  the  oil.  As  a  well  consists  of  a  series  of  pipes  run  down 
to  the  oil-sand,  almost  any  system  of  pumping  may  be  adopted,  but 
the  use  of  compressed  air  for  pumping  is  at  this  writing  coming 
into  favor  where  the  proper  conditions  exist.  The  air-pump  proper 
consists  of  nothing  more  than  two  plain  pipes,  one  for  air  and  one 
for  the  oil  discharged,  though  sometimes  the  oil  is  allowed  to  gather, 
and  then  forced  out  on  the  ejector  principle. 

It  is  now  customary  to  connect  a  number  of  near-by  wells  so 
as  to  pump  them  in  unison.  One  way  of  doing  this  is  to  secure 
water-power  from  some  adjacent  mountain  stream  and  drive  a  large 
wheel,  from  which  the  wells  are  operated  by  eccentrics  and  connect- 
ing-rods. A  method  now  being  experimented  with  is  the  establish- 
ing of  a  central  power  station,  furnishing  an  electric  current  to  drive 
individual  motors  at  the  several  wells.  This  system  seems  well 
adapted  where  a  large  number  of  wells  can  be  worked  together  on 
a  lease.  The  most  common  method  for  general  pumping  is  to  con- 
nect the  wells  with  surface-rods,  which  are  operated  by  a  gas-engine 
centrally  located.  This  is  a  cheap  method  because  the  gas  used  is 
obtained  from  the  oil-wells  themselves,  a  certain  amount  of  gas 
almost  always  being  found  in  some  of  the  stratas  through  which 
the  wells  pass  to  reach  the  oil-sand.  This  gas  is  prevented  from 
escaping  from  the  top  of  a  well  by  the  casing-head,  and  gas  drawn 
from  this  head  is  known  as  casing-head  gas. 

Crude  oil  is  the  name  applied  to  petroleum  in  the  condition 
in  which  it  is  taken  from  the  well.  No  less  than  two  hundred  dif- 
ferent products  are  obtained  from  crude  petroleum  by  what  is  called 
distillation  and  reduction.  Distillation  is  the  process  of  vaporizing 
and  then  condensing  the  vapors  into  merchantable  products ;  reduc- 
tion is  driving  out  the  lighter  parts  of  the  petroleum  by  heat.  It 
will  be  recognized  that  by  distillation  the  lighter  portions  obtained 
are  in  a  refined  condition,  free  from  any  foreign  substances  that  may 
have  contaminated  the  crude  oil.  The  most  important  products 
obtained  by  distillation  are  kerosene,  benzine,  gasolene,  naphtha, 


PETROLEUM    AND    OIL    REFINING 


559 


lubricating  oils  for  machinery,  residuum,  and  either  paraffin  or 
asphalt.  The  heavier  portions  are  made  into  petrolatum  (or  vase- 
line), and  also  find  their  way  into  candles  and  a  great  many  other 
articles. 


Diagram  of  a  Steel  Rig  for  Drilling  Oil-Wells. 
A,  Upright  plan;    B,  ground   plan,     i,  Derrick  frame ;   2,   crown  pulley;   3,  sand-pump   pulley; 
4,  derrick  girt ;  5,  braces  ;  6,  ladder;  7,  bailer;   8,  walking-beam  ;   9,  headache  post ;    10,  bull-wheels; 
II,  band-wheels ;  12,  sand-reel ;    13,  ropes  connecting  with  steam-engine;    14,  top  of  well;    15,  sand- 
line  ;  16,  bull-rope. 

When  petroleum  was  first  obtained  it  was  loaded  into  barrels, 
and  these  were  shipped  on  flat-cars.  It  was  found  that  water  mixed 
with  the  oil,  dissolving  the  glue  used  to  close  the  chinks  in  the  bar- 
rels, so  that  they  leaked.  Wooden  tank-cars  were  then  resorted  to, 
these  being  superseded  about  1872  to  1875  by  cylindrical  iron  tank- 
cars. 

The  first  pipe-line  was  constructed  by  Samuel  Van  Syckle,  of 
Titusville,  Pennsylvania,  who  built  a  line  four  miles  in  length. 
To-day  that  oil  region  is  a  network  of  pipes,  and  great  trunk  lines 


56o 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


extend  between  the  principal  points.  In  the  early  days  of  pipe-lines 
the  well-owners  who  turned  their  oil  into  them  simply  received  a 
certificate  that  might  or  might  not  be  good,  but  this  system  was 
subject  to  so  many  abuses  and  so  much  loss  that  the  pipe-lines 
naturally  came  under  the  control  of  a  single  reliable  concern,  out 
of  which  has  grown  the  Standard  Oil  monopoly. 

The  exporting  of  petroleum  from  the  United  States  began  in 
1862,  and  within  a  few  years  developed  into  a  large  trade.  For 
many  years  we  have  enjoyed  the  cream  of  European  custom,  which 
is  only  now  being  threatened  by  the  development  of  the  Russian 
oil-fields.  In  1901  our  exports  for  the  first  time  exceeded  1,000,- 
000,000  gallons,  valued  at  $74,500,000.  More  than  half  of  this  oil 
is  shipped  from  New  York,  and  over  thirty  per  cent,  from  Phila- 
delphia. Nearly  every  foreign  country  except  Great  Britain  exacts 
a  tariff  from  the  petroleum  we  sell  to  them.  More  than  six- 
sevenths  of  the  petroleum  we  export  is  refined,  and  of  the  crude  oil 
we  export  nearly  all  is  taken  by  France. 

The  total  production  of  crude  petroleum  in  the  United  States 
averaged  about  65,000,000  barrels  per  year  during  the  years  from 

1898  to  1902,  about  one-tenth  of  this  production  being  exported. 
Nearly  $500,000,000  capital  is  believed  to  be  invested  in  the  United 
States  in  prospecting  for  oil,  pumping  and  transporting,  and  re- 
fining. There  are  sixty-seven  concerns  engaged  in  the  refining 
business,  having  a  total  capital  of  above  $100,000,000.  Pennsyl- 
vania is  the  centre  of  the  refining  industry,  as  it  is  also  the  principal 
oil-field  of  the  country,  but  there  are  also  refineries  in  the  oil-fields 
in  Ohio,  West  Virginia  and  Texas,  and  in  a  number  of  other  States. 

The  following  table  shows  the  United  States  census  return  for 

1899  of  refined  petroleum  products  and  the  percentage  of  increase 
in  ten  years : 


1899. 

Per  cent,  of 
Increase. 

Products. 

Number  of 
Barrels. 

Total  Value. 

Average 
Price  per 
Barrel 

On 
Quantity. 

On 

Value. 

Burning  oils 

31,266,513 

596,615 

1,606,783 

774,924 
1,766,090 

5,615,554 
608,185 

^82,244,961 
688,455 
3,987,037 
7,791,149 
7,108,168 
15,991,742 
2,256,626 
3,861,246 

^2.63 

115 

2.48 
10.05 

4-03 
2.85 

3-71 

84.3 
I50. 1 
134.6 
220.3 
106. 1 

70.7 

71.9 

'44-3 

31-9 

168.2 

Residuum 

Paraffin  oils 

Paraffin  wax 

Reduced  oils 

204.6 

Naphtha  and  gasolene 

Neutral  filtered  oils 

124.7 

All  other  products 

'81.2 

1  Decrease. 


PETROLEUM    AND    OIL    REFINING 


561 


The  Appalachian   or   Pennsyh^ania   petroleum   field  produced 
most  of  the  oil  obtained  in  the  United  States  until  recent  years, 


about  125,000  wells  having  been  sunk  there.  Since  1895  the  Lima- 
Indiana  field  has  produced  nearly  three-fourths  as  much,  though 
since  1900  both  these  fields  have  slightly  reduced  in  output.     The 

36 


562 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


new  fields  of  Texas,  California,  Colorado,  Kansas,  and  Wyoming- 
produced  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  total  output  in  1901,  and  37^2  per 
cent,  in  1902,  and  bid  fair  to  increase  this  percentage. 


A  Prospecting  Drill. 

In  the  Appalachian  field  when  a  producer  obtains  oil  he  must 
dispose  of  it  to  a  pipe-line  company,  and  the  custom  is  to  send  for 
an  agent  or  ganger  to  measure  and  inspect  the  petroleum  in  his 
tank  and  run  it  into  its  lines,  the  tanks  throughout  the  field  having- 
been  carefully  measured  and  a  card  issued,  showing  the  number  o£ 


PETROLEUM    AND    OIL    REFINING  563 

barrels  from  top  to  bottom  to  each  inch  of  Hquid.  From  his  blank- 
book  the  ganger  gives  the  operator  a  "  run  ticket,"  sending  a  dupli- 
cate to  the  nearest  general  office,  as  well  as  reporting  the  amount 
by  telegraph,  keeping  the  third  one  himself.  The  pipe-line  company 
deducts  the  amount  due  the  owner  of  the  property  according  to 
the  terms  of  an  agreement  on  file  at  the  office,  known  as  the  royalty, 
and  the  next  day  the  producer  can  secure  the  cash  for  his  petroleum 
at  the  market  quotation  for  the  day  or  hour  of  his  sale,  at  the 
nearest  home  office  of  the  company,  from  a  purchaser  for  the  refining 
companies,  or,  if  the  producer  wishes,  he  can  obtain  a  certificate 
when  his  production  in  the  tanks  of  the  pipe-line  company  amounts 
to  1000  barrels. 

These  certificates  are  made  payable  to  bearer,  and  are  therefore 
transferable.  They  are  subject  to  a  transportation  charge  in  the  dis- 
trict of  twenty  cents  per  barrel  and  a  charge  for  storage  at  the  rate 
of  twenty-five  cents  per  day  per  1000  barrels  when  the  price  is  less 
than  $1,  thirty  cents  when  over  $1  and  under  $1.50,  and  forty  cents 
for  all  over  $1.50  per  barrel.  They  are  to  be  returned  for  exchange 
to  the  pipe-line  company  within  six  months  after  issue,  or  be  subject 
to  a  charge  of  one-twentieth  of  one  per  cent,  daily  thereafter  until 
exchanged.  To  cover  losses  by  fire  or  lightning,  certificates  are 
subject  to  an  assessment  pro  rata  on  all  oil  in  the  custody  of  the 
pipe-line. 

What  is  known  as  the  Texas-Louisiana  oil-field  comprises  the 
following  districts : 

In  Texas — Beaumont,  Sabine  Pass,  Sour  Lake,  Saratoga,  Day- 
ton, High  Island,  Columbia,  and  a  few  minor  districts;  in  Louisi- 
ana— Jennings,  Ansa  la  Butte,  Sulphur,  Vinton,  Hackberry  Island, 
and  minor  districts. 

At  the  Spindletop  Pool,  in  the  Beaumont  district,  there  are 
some  three  hundred  wells  of  commercial  importance.  Enormous 
output  was  prophesied  for  the  Texas  field  a  few  years  ago,  some 
going  so  far  as  to  say  that  it  would  excel  the  great  Baku  field  in 
Russia,  but  these  ideas  have  moderated  a  little,  and  the  development 
of  oil  here  is  now  regarded  more  conservatively.  The  Beaumont 
petroleum  is  valuable  as  fuel  in  its  crude  state,  though  in  most  re- 
spects it  is  inferior  to  both  Pennsylvania  and  Russian  oil,  and  not 
valuable  for  refining. 

The  rotary  process  of  well-drilling  is  mainly  used  at  Beau- 
mont, the  contracts  running  from  $4  to  $4.50  per  foot,  the  con- 
tractor furnishing  all  tools,  machinery,  labor,  etc.  About  two. 
months  are  required  for  the  drilling  of  one  of  these  wells.     Con- 


564 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


siderable  care  has  to  be  exercised  at  the  time  a  well  is  opened  on 
account  of  the  very  poisonous  nature  of  the  gas  that  accompanies  the 
oil.  It  is  bad  enough  to  inhale  petroleum  vapor,  which  renders  a 
person  unconscious,  but  the  combination  of  hydrogen  sulphide  which 


Manner  of  Drilling  Oil-Well. 


A  Torpedo. 


issues  with  the  petroleum  vapor  from  the  wells  of  Beaumont  is 
almost  sure  death  to  one  who  inhales  it.  Notwithstanding  this 
danger,  the  fatalities  are  very  few. 

The  total  production  of  crude  petroleum  in  the  Beaumont  Spin- 
dletop  field,  including  the  oil  wasted  from  wild  gushers  and  from 
other  wells,  the  local  consumption,  the  oil  held  in  tanks,  and  the  oil 


PETROLEUM    AND    OIL    REFINING  565 

shipped  away,  from  the  beginning  of  1901  up  to  January  i,  1903, 
is  estimated  at  17,000,000  barrels.  The  value  of  well  material, 
tanks,  tank-cars,  pipe-lines,  pumping-stations,  refineries,  and  wells 
producing,  drilling  and  abandoned,  is  estimated  at  about  $8,000,000. 
May  I,  1902,  there  were  52  abandoned  wells,  240  producing  wells, 
and  60  wells  drilling;  a  total  of  352 — an  increase  in  17  months 
of  24  abandoned,  109  producing,  and  14  drilling  wells. 

The  Kern  River  field  of  California  has  been  one  of  the  most 
sensational  producers  of  petroleum  of  recent  years.  In  1902  this 
section  produced  two-thirds  of  the  total  of  nearly  15,000,000  bar- 
rels produced  by  California.  In  1903  this  field  distanced  the  Texas 
field,  yielding  18,000,000  barrels  of  the  total  of  24,340,000  credited 
to  California  in  that  year.  The  oil  land  is  so  large  in  area  that 
its  possibilities  are  enormous.  Most  of  it  was  government  land 
that  a  few  years  ago  could  have  been  secured  for  nothing  by  set- 
tlers, or  purchased  at  from  $1.50  to  $2.50  per  acre.  Between  1902 
and  1904  much  of  it  changed  hands  at  from  $1000  to  even  $10,000 
an  acre.  The  product  sold  from  this  field  in  1903  represented  in- 
terest at  six  per  cent,  on  $50,000,000,  and  the  amount  would  have 
been  much  more,  were  it  not  that  the  lack  of  tankage  and  unfinished 
condition  of  pipe-lines  caused  the  waste  of  uncounted  thousands  of 
barrels. 

In  1902  a  test  was  made  by  Lieutenant  W.  P.  Winchell,  of  the 
United  States  navy,  on  the  use  of  petroleum  oil  as  a  substitute  for 
coal  under  the  boilers  of  a  steamship,  the  Mariposa.  The  oil  used 
was  from  the  Kern  River  district  in  California,  and  the  boilers 
were  those  already  in  use  that  had  been  designed  for  burning  coal. 
The  result  of  the  test  showed  that  the  usual  speed  could  be  main- 
tained, and  that  there  was  apparently  no  greater  danger  than  when 
burning  coal,  as  no  accidents  occurred  during  the  trip  and  no  extra 
precautions  were  taken.  There  was  a  reduction  of  the  force  in  the 
fire-room  of  sixteen  men,  and  the  report  stated  that  three  more 
could  be  dispensed  with.  This  report  would  seem  to  settle  the 
question  as  to  the  utility  of  using  petroleum  as  a  fuel  for  steam- 
vessels  ;  the  expense  has  also  been  proven  to  be  less,  and  as  a  result 
a  considerable  number  of  steamers  running  from  San  Francisco  are 
now  equipped  for  oil  fuel. 

The  1 90 1  report  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  on  the  petro- 
leum industry  states  that  there  were  organized  in  that  year  1478 
oil-well  companies,  capitalized  at  a  total  of  $663,000,000;  of  these 
only  556  ever  produced  any  petroleum.  These  figures  show  the 
speculative  side  of  the  petroleum  industry,  and  suggest  the  great 
amount  of  money  that  is  sunk  in  drilling  for  oil  that  is  never  found. 


CLAY    AND    ITS    PRODUCTS 

The  basis  of  the  brick,  terra-cotta  and  pottery  business  is  clay. 
This  was  one  of  the  first  materials  employed  in  building,  the  ancient 
Egyptians  understanding  the  manufacture  of  bricks,  while  the  pot- 
tery of  Peru  and  Mexico  marks  the  earliest  civilization  of  America. 
Bricks  were  made  mainly  by  hand  in  wooden  moulds  prior  to  1875, 
but  during"  the  past  twenty  years  have  been  made  almost  wholly  by 
machines,  of  which  there  are  three  kinds.  The  wet-clay  machines 
push  the  material  through  a  cylinder  having  a  reducing  nozzle  of 
rectangular  shape,  which  delivers  what  would  be  one  continuous 


French  Brick-Making  Machine. 

soft  brick,  were  it  not  cut  into  lengths  by  cross  wires  and  separated. 
The  stiff-clay  machines  are  designed  to  produce  a  heavier  and  better 
quality  of  brick,  and  the  dry-press  machines  are  used  for  making 
pressed  brick  with  a  smooth  and  polished  surface. 

The  clay  is  first  ground  and  mixed  in  a  pug-mill,  such  as  that 
shown  in  the  illustration.  The  interior  of  the  case  is  supplied  with 
rotating  blades  that  cut  up  and  thoroughly  mix  the  clay  as  it  passes 
through.  The  augur  type  of  brick-machine  is  that  commonly  used, 
making  its  product  from  soft  or  wet  clay.  The  word  augur  is  de- 
scriptive of  an  interior  device  having  spiral  blades  like  an  augur, 
only  vastly  larger,  which  pushes  the  clay  through  the  machine.  As 
the  clay  comes  out  it  is  cut  into  bricks  by  the  cross  wires,  a  peculiar 

566 


CLAY    AND    ITS    PRODUCTS 


567 


motion  is  given  to  the  travelling  belt,  and  this  serves  to  separate 
the  blocks,  which  are  then  sent  to  the  kiln  to  be  dried. 


The  dry-press  moulds  several  bricks  at  a  time  under  a  heavy 
pressure,  the  clay  being  introduced  dry  from  a  grinding-mill.     Some 


568 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


of  the  dry-press  machines  are  made  for  forming  bricks  in  various 
ornamental  shapes,  there  being  a  much  increased  demand  for  these 
in  the  construction  of  modern  dwelhngs. 

In  1900  there  were  6423  establisliments  manufacturing  clay 
products  in  the  United  States,  having  a  total  capital  of  nearly  $100,- 
000,000,  and  giving  employment  to  11,000  persons.  The  value  of 
the  product  manufactured  was  $96,000,000,  this  being  more  than 
double  what  it  was  in  1880.  Of  this  product  $40,000,000  was 
common    brick,    $8,600,000    fire-brick,    $4,800,000    vitrified    brick, 


German  Krick-Making  Machine,  with  Feeder. 


$4,500,000  sewer-pipe,  $3,600,000  drain-tile,  $2,500,000  pressed 
brick,  $2,000,000  fancy  colored  brick,  $2,000,000  architectural  terra- 
cotta, $1,600,000  hollow  brick,  and  about  $8,000,000  minor  sorts 
of  brick,  tile  and  terra-cotta.  The  total  of  pottery  products  made 
from  clay  was  over  $17,000,000,  of  which  the  largest  item  was  semi- 
vitreous  porcelain  ware — cream-colored  ware,  stoneware  and  white 
granite  ware  coming  next. 

There  was  a  decrease  in  the  use  of  common  brick  during  the 
period  between   1890  and   1900,  which  is  attributed  to  the  intro- 


570 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


duction  of  steel  buildings,  involving  the  increased  use  of  cement, 
and  also  to  the  employment  of  vitrified  brick  for  sidewalks. 

Pennsylvania  is  the  leading  State  in  the  brick  and  tile  industry, 
New  York  being  second,  and  Illinois  third.  The  average  price  for 
common  bricks  in  the  United  States  for  1900  was  $5.18  per  thou- 
sand, the  lowest  figure  being  $4.23  in  New  York.  Pressed  front 
brick  had  an  average  value  of  $9. 

Of  the  materials  used  in  the  manufacture  of  brick  and  tile,  the 
item  of  fuel  costs  tw^enty-five  times  as  much  as  the  clay  used,  while 
the  freight  charges  paid  by  the  manufacturer  are  nearly  double  the 


Jeffrey  Brick  Conveying  Machine. 

cost  for  clay.  He  even  pays  as  much  for  the  sand,  coal,  manganese, 
iron,  salt,  and  barium  that  he  mixes  with  his  clay,  as  he  pays  for 
the  clay  itself.  In  other  words,  the  clay  is  but  a  minor  item  of 
expense,  amounting  to  but  about  three  per  cent,  of  the  total  cost 
of  materials,  and  but  one-fifth  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  selling  value 
of  the  brick  and  tile !  We  export  a  small  quantity  of  brick,  tile, 
and  pottery,  but  import  about  seven  times  as  much  as  we  send  out, 
the  excess  being  mainly  owing  to  decorated  china  and  porcelain 
imported  for  its  artistic  beauty. 

Aluminum  is  obtained  from  bauxite,  a  variety  of  clay  very  rich 
in  the  mineral.  The  principal  mines  are  in  the  south  of  France, 
although  some  bauxite  is  mined  in  the  United  States  and  in  Great 


CLAY    AND    ITS    PRODUCTS 


571 


Britain.  Notwithstanding  France's  advantageous  position  in  control- 
ling about  three-fourths  of  the  world's  supply  of  material  for  making 
aluminum,  the  United  States  is  the  largest  manufacturer,  the  Pitts- 
burg Reduction  Company  at  Niagara  Falls  being  the  largest  pro- 
ducer. This  company  in  1903  established  a  plant  at  Bauxite,  Saline 
County,  Arkansas,  where  there  are  large  deposits  of  bauxite  ores. 
Here  the  ore  is  ground,  and  calcined  in  furnaces  to  secure  the  alu- 
minum oxide  from  which  commercial  aluminum  is  produced. 

The  greatest  demand  for  aluminum  comes  from  the  manufac- 
turers of  electrical  apparatus  and  machinery.  It  is  also  in  demand 
in  the  metal  trade  as  a  substitute  for  brass  and  zinc.  The  metal 
has  been  rather  overrated,  but  it  has  qualities  that  render  it  useful 
for  many  purposes.  It  is  light  in  weight,  ornate  in  appearance,  and 
does  not  easily  corrode,  being  superior  in  this  latter  respect  to  brass, 
or,  indeed,  any  of  the  common  metals.  The  notion  that  aluminum 
is  valuable  for  the  construction  of  air-ships  is  an  erroneous  one, 
founded  on  its  light  weight;  but  it  is  not  as  light  as  steel  when 
measured  by  the  test  of  strength.  A  square  foot  of  aluminum  is 
vastly  lighter  than  a  square  foot  of  steel,  but  a  pound  of  aluminum 
wire  or  tubing  will  not  bear  as  great  strains  as  a  pound  of  steel 
wire  or  tubing. 

The  notion  which  prevailed  a  few  years  ago  that  aluminum 
was  going  to  create  a  revolution  in  the  industrial  world  has  worn 
itself  away.  The  cost  of  production  is  too  great  to  enable  it  to  be 
used  as  a  substitute  for  tinware  or  other  common  articles  and  uten- 
sils, and  in  those  directions  where  its  use  is  desirable  the  demand 
is  not  very  large.  The  racing  yachts  "  Shamrock  II.,"  "  Indepen- 
dence," and  "  Defender"  were  built  with  deck-plates  of  aluminum, 
protected  with  wood,  but  they  were  not  satisfactory.  Aluminum 
does  not  withstand  the  action  of  salt  water  for  any  length  of  time. 
Its  use  for  automobiles  is  comparatively  trifling,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  cycles.  The  substitution  of  aluminum  plates  for  lithographic 
stones  in  lithography  has  made  some  progress. 

The  steel  industry  uses  considerable  quantities  of  aluminum, 
its  affinity  for  oxygen  rendering  it  of  value  in  steel-casting.  The 
most  novel  use  to  which  aluminum  has  been  put  is  probably  the  con- 
struction of  the  dwelling-house,  shown  at  the  Buffalo  Exposition 
in  190 1.  This  was  twenty-two  feet  in  height,  fifteen  feet  square  in 
ground  plan,  and  had  walls,  sills,  roof,  etc.,  formed  of  sheet  alumi- 
num. 

As  an  alloy,  aluminum  fills  many  valuable  places  in  the  indus- 
trial world.     Alloyed  with  nickel  and  with  silver,  ornamental  com- 


572 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


pounds  are  obtained.  Alloyed  with  tungsten,  great  tensile  strength 
is  secured.  Alloyed  with  zinc,  a  useful  metal  results,  employed  for 
scale-beams,  surveying  and  astronomical  instruments,  etc.  In  this 
instance  about  three  parts  of  aluminum  to  one  of  zinc  usually  gives 
the  best  results. 

Pure  aluminum  is  best  for  electrical  conductors,  and  manufac- 
turers go  to  great  expense  to  provide  a  practically  pure  article. 
Absolutely  pure  metal  of  any  sort  is  very  rare,  owing  to  difficulties 
of  separation  in  smelting  and  refining  processes. 


•  CHANGES  IN  SUGAR  MANUFACTURE 

Sugar  has  become  one  of  the  most  essential  articles  for  the 
table,  and  the  low  price  at  which  it  sells  is  very  remarkable,  con- 
sidering the  several  processes  of  manufacture.  In  1850  the  con- 
sumption of  sugar  in  the  United  States  was  twenty-two  pounds  per 
capita;  in  1901  it  had  risen  to  sixty-eight  pounds  per  capita.  The 
world's  production  of  sugar  in  1840  was  1,150,000  tons  and  in  1900 
the  total  arose  to  8,800,000  tons.  In  1840  only  five  per  cent,  of  the 
sugar  manufactured  was  made  from  beets,  but  in  1900  the  beet 
supply  was  sixty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  total.  While  the  above 
figures  are  given  as  the  world's  production,  it  should  be  understood 
that  they  do  not  include  the  sugar  made  in  India  and  in  China, 
where  the  manufacture  is  carried  on  for  local  consumption  and  no 
record  is  kept  of  the  product. 

The  first  record  of  sugar  being  manufactured  successfully  in 
the  United  States  is  that  of  Louisiana,  where  Etienne  Bore,  in  1795, 
established  works.  Others  assisted  in  growing  the  cane,  and  by 
1802  the  crop  of  the  State  was  2500  pounds.  The  industry  advanced 
slowly,  mills  operated  by  horse-  and  cattle-power  being  employed 
for  a  great  many  years.  By  1850  there  were  nearly  a  thousand 
sugar  plantations  in  Louisiana,  and  the  annual  product  was  over 
100,000  tons.  In  1 86 1  the  crop  had  grown  to  240,000  tons,  and  the 
industry  was  in  a  fair  w^ay  to  become  a  great  one,  when  the  Civil 
War  broke  out  and  killed  it.  During  recent  years  the  Louisiana 
business  has  been  revived  and  is  now  on  a  satisfactory  basis,  though 
not  what  it  might  have  been  under  more  favorable  circumstances. 

The  sugar  industry  of  Cuba  was  large  and  more  prosperous 
than  that  of  Louisiana,  but  suffered  a  decline  during  the  Ipng  years 
of  the  Civil  War  between  Cuba  and  Spain,  so  that  the  industry  was 
nearly  wiped  out.  If  it  had  not  been  for  these  two  wars  it  seems 
probable  that  sugar  made  from  the  sugar-cane  would  lead  in  the 
markets  of  the  world,  but,  owing  to  the  strangling  of  the  cane-sugar 
product  by  these  conditions,  beet-sugar  gained  ground  rapidly,  ob- 
tained a  lead  about  1895,  and  now  constitutes  two-thirds  of  the 
world's  product.  The  cultivation  of  the  beet  for  sugar-making 
began  in  France  under  Government  assistance,  and  extended  to  Ger- 
many, Austria,  Belgium  and  Russia,  in  all  of  which  countries  it 
prospered  with  the  assistance  of  bounties. 

573 


574 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


In  1888  Claus  Spreckels  established  a  large  beet-sugar  factory 
at  Watsonville,  California,  and  two  years  later  he  started  the  Ox- 
nard  Beet-Sugar  Company,  at  Grand  Island,  Nebraska,  and  later 
another  factory  at  Norfolk,  Nebraska.  Since  then  a  number  of 
other  large  beet-sugar  factories  have  come  into  existence  in  the 
Western  States. 

Sixty  years  ago  most  of  the  sugar  used  was  sold  in  an  unre- 
fined condition,  and  even  thirty  years  ago  the  brown  unrefined 
sugar  was  the  most  common  article  obtained.  During  the  early 
history  of  the  refining  industry,  the  refined  sugar  sold  for  an  advance 
of  about  ten  cents  a  pound  over  the  raw  unrefined  brown  sugar, 
and  the  cost  has  been  gradually   reduced  until  to-day  the  white 


Hauling  Sugar-Cane  by  Electric  Railway  in  Hawaii. 

granulated  refined  sugar  sells  at  so  low  a  price  that  there  is  no 
demand  at  all  for  raw  sugar.  The  refiners  began  to  use  the  vacuum- 
pan  about  1855,  the  charcoal  filter  being  adopted  a  little  later. 
Machinery  for  granulating  and  reducing  the  grain  was  introduced 
as  early  as  1848,  but  the  centrifugal  machine  for  separating  the 
syrup  was  not  known  until  i860.  The  polariscope  for  testing  sugar 
came  into  use  about  1870. 

One  of  the  first  refineries  was  that  of  the  Rhinelanders,  which 
was  established  on  William  Street,  New  York.  The  Havemeyers 
and  R.  L.  &  A.  Stewart  were  among  the  other  earlier  firms  in  the 
sugar-refining  industry.  The  Havemeyers  starting  in  1805  in  Van- 
dam  Street,  New  York,  becoming  In  process  of  time  the  largest 
refiners  in  the  country.  In  1875  there  were  forty-two  sugar 
refineries  in  the  United  States,  having  a  combined  output  of  25,000 
barrels  per  day.  At  that  date  the  difference  in  cost  between  the  raw 
and  refined  sugar  had  been  reduced  to  about  three  cents.     In  1880 


CHANGES  IN  SUGAR  MANUFACTURE 


575 


the  number  cf  refineries  had  been  reduced  to  twenty-seven,  and  the 
competition  became  so  sharp  that  in  1882  most  of  these  began  to 
work  together  under  trade  agreements.  In  1887  nineteen  refineries 
were  consoHdated  as  the  Sugar  Refineries  Company,  with  a  capital 
of  $50,000,000.  In  1 89 1  the  company  was  changed  to  the  American 
Sugar  Refining  Company,  which  in  the  following  year  acquired  four 
outside  refineries,  and  now  controls  the  sugar-refining  industry  of 
the  United  States,  being  popularly  known  as  the  Sugar  Trust.  This 
company  owns  several  of  the  largest  and  most  complete  refineries 
in  the  world,  having  enormous  plants  in  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City, 
Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  New  Orleans  and  San  Francisco. 


Interior  View  of  Standard  Beet-Sugar  Company's  Factory  at  Leavitt,  Nebraska. 

In  making  sugar  from  the  cane,  the  first  process  is  the  cutting 
up  of  the  cane,  which  is  done  by  a  machine  having  corrugated  rollers 
that  break  or  cut  the  grain  into  short  pieces.  It  next  goes  to  the 
cane-mill  or  sugar-mill,  which  is  a  large  machine  having  very  heavy 
rollers  for  squeezing  the  remaining  juice  out  of  the  cane.  The  juice 
is  caught  in  a  tank,  and  strained  and  purified  by  defecation.  The 
purified  juice  is  taken  to  a  series  of  vacuum-tanks,  which  have  suc- 
ceeded the  old-time  vacuum-pans.  Here  the  syrup  is  boiled,  a  slight 
vacuum  being  maintained  in  the  first  tank,  and  a  stronger  vacuum 
in  each  of  the  succeeding  tanks.  This  boiling  reduces  the  cane  juice 
by  evaporating  the  water,  so  that  the  remainder  becomes  a  thick 
syrup.     This  is  clarified  and  cooled  in  order  to  separate  the  sugar 


576 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


from  the  molasses.  This  is  done  in  a  centrifugal  machine,  made 
something  like  a  cream-separator,  which  whirls  around  at  great 
velocity,  throwing  out  the  molasses  and  retaining  the  sugar,  which 
is  then  ready  for  the  refining  process. 

In  refining,  the  sugar  is  first  dissolved  in  hot  water  and  treated 
in  what  are  called  "  blow-up"  pans,  as  a  purifying  measure.  The 
sugar  and  water  are  then  passed  through  a  series  of  filters  contain- 
ing animal  charcoal  or  bone-black.  The  next  treatment  is  in  a 
vacuum-tank,  where  it  is  reduced  much  as  previously  described,  and 
later  taken  to  a  centrifugal  machine,  from  which  it  is  taken  out  as 
refined  sugar  in  the  condition  in  which  it  is  sold  to  the  public. 

In  making  beet-sugar,  the  beets  are  very  thinly  sliced,  and  then 
passed  through  a  diffusing-machine  that  circulates  in  water  in  order 


Alvarado  (California)  Factory  of  American  Beet-Sugar  Company. 

to  separate  the  saccharine  juices  from  the  beet-pulp.  The  beet- juice 
so  obtained  is  then  subjected  to  saturation  with  carbonic-acid  gas, 
after  which  it  is  carbonated  and  allowed  to  settle.  It  may  then  be 
filtered  and  taken  to  the  vacuum-tanks,  the  rest  of  the  process  being 
similar  to  the  manufacture  from  cane-sugar. 

Maple-sugar  was  a  fairly  prominent  industry  in  i860,  the 
United  States  production  for  that  year  being  about  25,000  tons,  but 
it  has  declined  rather  than  grown,  and  now  cuts  a  very  small  figure 
in  the  sugar  trade.  Vermont,  which  is  the  largest  producer,  turns 
out  about  5000  tons  a  year  and  Ohio  about  4000  tons,  while  several 
of  the  other  Northern  States  produce  small  quantities,  mainly  for 
local  consumption.  It  is  prepared  in  very  small  factories,  the  sap 
being  boiled  in  open  pans  called  evaporators. 


CHANGES  IN  SUGAR  MANUFACTURE 


577 


Sorghum  syrup  manufacture  is  a  kindred  industry  carried  on 
in  a  small  way  in  a  good  many  Southern  sections  of  the  United 
States,  the  annual  product  being  about  25,000,000  gallons.  This  is 
mainly  produced  in  horse-power  mills  of  the  crudest  construction. 
The  sorghum  plant  has  never  received  much  attention,  and  it  is  very 
possible  that  if  it  received  the  same  scientific  study  and  care  that  have 
been  gi\'en  to  the  development  of  the  beet,  that  its  saccharine  juices 
might  become  of  considerable  commercial  value.  The  sap  of  the 
sugar-maple  is  perhaps  the  purest  of  the  natural  saccharine  juices; 
the  juice  of  the  sugar-cane  is  of  less  purity,  and  sorghum  juice  has 
the  reputation  of  being  fuller  of  impurities  than  either.  Yet  when 
these  three  syrups  are  made  into  refined  sugar  they  have  similar 
qualities  and  value,  and  lose  the  flavor  peculiar  to  the  plant  from 
which  they  originate. 

The  beet-sugar  industry  of  the  United  States,  as  reported  in 
the  census  in  1900.  includes  thirty-one  establishments  with  a  total 


Centrifugal  Machines  used  in  Sugar  Manufacture. 

capital  of  $21,000,000;  of  these  the  eight  California  factories  do 
nearly  half  the  business  of  the  country,  Michigan  being  the  second 
State  of  importance  in  the  industry.  At  the  time  the  census  statis- 
tics were  compiled  one-half  of  the  number  of  factories  had  been  in 
operation  but  a  single  year,  so  that  the  business  w^as  too  new^  to  make 
a  good  showing  of  prosperity.  The  total  output  of  sugar  from  these 
factories  was  about  72,000  long  tons  of  2240  pounds.  It  is  calcu- 
lated that  on  an  average  ten  pounds  of  sugar  were  obtained  from 
every  100  pounds  of  beets,  and  the  price  paid  for  beets  averaged  a 
little  less  than  $4.50  per  ton. 

Previous  to  1879  the  endeavors  to  manufacture  sugar  from 
beets  in  the  United  States  had  all  ended  in  failure,  but  about  1899 
the  Alameda  Sugar  Company,  which  had  installed  first-class  ma- 
chinery in  order  to  manufacture  on  a  larger  scale,  made  a  marked 
success,  and  this  induced  others  to  embark  in  the  business.  Owing 
to  the  fact  that  beets  are  obtainable  during  only  a  portion  of  the 

37 


578 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


year,  the  manufacturer  is  active  only  during  certain  months.  In 
order  to  show  how  far  behind  is  the  United  States  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  beet-sugar,  the  following  table  is  given  showing  the  number 
of  tons  produced  in  European  countries : 

The  beet-sugar  production  in  the  United  States  has  tripled 
since  1900,  the  tonnage  in  1902-03,  being  as  follows:  California, 
70,909;  Michigan,  57,678;  Colorado,  29,643;  Utah,  15,625; 
Nebraska,  7768 ;  Wisconsin,  3463 ;  Minnesota,  3393 ;  New  Mexico, 


I 899- I 900. 

Tons  of  2240 

Pounds. 

1898-99. 

Tons  of  2240 

Pounds. 

1897^8. 

1  ons  of  22a.o 

Pounds. 

Germany 

1,798,631 
1,108,007 
977,850 
910,000 
304,000 
171,029 
253,929 

1,721,718 

1,051,290 

830,132 

776,066 

244,017 

149,763 
209,115 

1,852,857 
831,667 
821,235 
738,715 
265,397 
125,658 

196,245 

Austria 

France 

Russia 

Belgium 

Holland 

Other  countries.      .  .         .... 

Total  for  Europe 

United  States 

5,523,446 
71,427 

4,982,101 
32,471 

4,831,774 
40,399 

2500;  Washington,  1518;  Ohio,  1339;  total,  195,800.  During 
1903  the  number  of  United  States  beet-sugar  factories  increased 
from  forty-two  to  fifty-six. 

The  following  table  of  consumption  of  sugar  in  the  United 
States  during  recent  years  was  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  the 
Treasury  Department : 


Refined 

Product  of 

Imported 

Sugar. 

Domestic  Product. 

Total. 

Calendar 
Year. 

Manufac- 
tured from 
Imported 
Molasses. 

Cane. 

Maple. 

Beet. 

Sorg- 
hum 
and 
Other. 

Consump- 
tion per 
Capita. 

1890 

Tons. 

1,257,292 
1,572,438 
1,715,607 
1,708,937 
1,844,642 
1,950,614 
1,932,330 
2,092,657 

Tons. 

53,282 

15,000 

150 

1,700 

5,200 

7,647 

17,977 

23,600 

Tons. 

136,503 
324,506 
310,537 
252,812 
160,400 
174,450 
292,150 
296,000 

Tons. 

25,000 
7,500 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,325 

Tons. 
2,800 
30,000 
39,864 
34,453 
62,826 
82,736 
124,859 
148,526 

Tons. 

1,500 
300 

Tons. 

1,476,377 
1,949,744 
2,070,978 
2,002,902 
2,078,068 
2,919,848 

Pounds. 
52.8 
63-4 
64.8 
61.5 
62.6 

1895 

i8q7 

1898 

1900 

65.2 
64.4 
72.8 

1      ^l^fifi'mS 

While  we  manufacture  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  sugar  we  con- 
sume, we  do  refine  the  sugar  that  we  import,  this  business  being  in 
the  hands  of  the  American  Sugar  Refining  Company,  popularly 
known  as  the  Sugar  Trust.  No  particulars  of  their  business  are 
obtainable. 


THE    FURNITURE  TRADE 

Stuffed  chairs,  couches,  divans,  bureaus,  chiffoniers,  etc.,  are 
comparatively  modern  inventions.  In  the  EHzabethan  era,  notwith- 
standing the  rise  of  hterature,  hard  wooden  chairs  and  settles  were 
the  customary  seats,  straw-beds  were  the  rule,  tables  were  of  the 
severest  rectangular  patterns,  and  the  names  now  familiarly  used 
for  numerous  household  and  parlor  essentials  were  unknown. 

For  a  century  or  two  the  old  four-posted  bed,  with  a  bottom 
of  cords,  was  regarded  as  the  height  of  luxury.  A  tick  full  of  fresh 
straw  laid  on  the  crossed  cords,  surmounted  by  a  feather-bed,  made 
a  nest  in  which,  with  plenty  of  quilts  and  comfortables,  our  ancestors 
were  able  to  defy  the  low  temperatures  that  penetrated  to  their 
unheated  sleeping-apartments.  The  spring-mattress  came  in  after 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  when  wire-drawing  had  become 
comparatively  cheap.  The  woven-wire  spring  followed,  which,  with 
the  hair-mattress,  furnishes  the  acme  of  up-to-date  comfort. 

The  application  of  the  factory  system  to  the  production  of  fur- 
niture has  given  the  public  the  combination  of  beautiful  and  orna- 
mental yet  strong  and  serviceable  furniture  that  may  be  purchased 
at  moderate  figures.  The  wood  shapes  that  form  the  basis  of  most 
articles  of  furniture  are  made  largely  by  automatic  wood-working 
machines  that  reduce  the  labor  to  a  minimum.  The  H.  B.  Smith 
tenoning-machine  here  shown  is  only  one  of  many  such.  Nearly 
all  the  tenoning  or  forming  of  joints,  smoothing,  and  polishing,  as 
well  as  the  simpler  sorts  of  carving,  can  now  be  performed  by 
machine,  the  hand-labor  being  required  simply  to  put  together  the 
parts,  adjust  the  springs,  fit  the  upholstery,  and  the  like.  For  a 
description  of  some  of  these  machines,  see  the  chapter  "  From  Log- 
ging-Camp to  Lumber-Mill." 

The  substitution  of  the  factory  for  the  cabinet-maker  in  the 
building  of  furniture  may  be  said  to  have  begun  in  1815  when  the 
first  power  machinery  was  introduced;  by  1825  there  were  a  num- 
ber of  small  factories  in  the  United  States  making  furniture  in  a 
small  way.  In  1850  the  factories  of  the  country  had  developed  so 
that  they  produced  $15,000,000  worth  of  furniture,  and  employed 
37,000  wage-earners.  These  concerns  began  with  the  making  of 
cheap  and  low-grade  furniture,  the  idea  being  to  undersell  the 
hand-made  work  of  the  cabinet-maker.     As  machinery  developed 

579 


58o 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


the  factories  built  better  and  better  goods,  and  in  the  course  of  time 
began  to  produce  articles  and  classes  of  goods  which  it  was  im- 
practicable to  make  by  hand,  and  at  the  present  time  the  hand-worker 


Courtes}'  Crocker-M'heeler  Company. 

Band  Savviiig-Machine,  as  used  by  Manufacturers  of  Furniture. 

has  been  driven  entirely  out  of  the  market,  such  hand-carving  as  is 
performed  being  done  by  employees  in  the  furniture  factories. 

It  was  immediately  after  the  Civil  War  that  the  furniture  manu- 
facturers of  the  United  States  began  to  understand  the  wants  of 
the  public  and  to  furnish  a  good  grade  of  furniture  having  some 


THE    FURNirURE    TRADE 


581 


artistic  merit.  They  began  to  set  fashions  and  styles  in  furniture 
and  to  cultivate  the  aesthetic.  As  a  result,  the  business  developed 
with  amazing  rapidity,  multiplying  four  and  a  half  times  between 
1850  and  1870,  the  value  of  the  productions  of  the  latter  year  being 
nearly  $69,000,000. 

Straight-line  furniture  was  in  favor  during  the  sixties,  and  has 
again  come  into  some  favor  in  1904  in  the  endeavor  to  imitate  colo- 
nial hand-made  tables  and  chairs.  The  Eastlake  or  Early  English 
style  became  popular  largely  through  the  influence  of  the  Centennial 


Courtesy  H.  B.  Smith  Cuiiipany. 

Double-Eiui  Tenoning  Machine. 

-Exhibition  in  1876.  The  Romanesque  or  Byzantine  fad  followed, 
but  by  1889  was  superseded  by  the  eighteenth-century  style,  which 
fashion  was  set  by  the  exhibitions  of  furniture  in  Paris  in  that  year. 
The  ornamental  woods  used  are  subject  to  considerable  fashion 
changes.  At  one  time  everything  was  mahogany,  then  curly  birch 
and  maple  were  popular,  next  light  oak,  and  later  oak,  and  so  on. 

Distinctively  American  articles  of  furniture  are  the  bureau, 
rocking-chair,  folding-bed,  American  form  of  chiffonier,  and  most 
of  the  combination  articles,  such  as  combined  desk  and  bookcase. 

The  folding-bed,  whose  object  is  to  economize  space,  has  been 


582  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

the  subject  of  numerous  patents,  and  is  now  made  in  many  orna- 
mental forms,  so  that  when  closed  it  imitates  a  bureau,  a  wardrobe 
with  a  mirror  front,  or  something  of  the  sort.  The  sofa-bedstead 
is  also  made  in  a  considerable  variety  of  forms.  The  introduction 
of  iron,  steel,  and  brass  into  the  framework  of  bedsteads  has  worked 
a  considerable  change  in  bedstead-making  within  the  past  decade, 
and  they  are  so  well  received  by  the  public  that  it  would  not  be  at 
all  a  matter  for  surprise  if  other  metal  furniture  came  into  fashion. 

The  construction  of  furniture  for  business  offices,  salesrooms, 
stores,  etc.,  is  an  important  branch  of  the  furniture  trade,  and  very 
many  useful  articles  have  been  perfected.  The  now  universal 
rolling-top  desk  is  produced  at  a  very  low  price,  as  are  also  the 
many  forms  of  convenient  cases  for  the  storing  of  papers  and  goods. 
The  "  knockdown"  or  "  sectional"  or  "  elastic"  bookcase  has  been 
the  subject  of  a  number  of  patents,  and  is  made  in  several  ways,  the 
general  principle  involved  being  the  ability  to  add  to  or  take  from 
the  structure  according  to  the  convenience  of  the  user.  There  have 
also  been  important  improvements  in  show-cases,  mainly  through 
the  introduction  of  more  glass,  so  that  the  goods  are  more  easily 
inspected. 

Within  a  few  years  upholstering-machines  have  begun  to  come 
into  use,  some  of  these  performing  the  complete  operation  of  adjust- 
ing and  tacking  on  the  material.  Of  course,  these  can  operate  only 
upon  furniture  of  a  specific  character,  but  they  are  developing  rap- 
idly. Many  other  instances  might  be  cited  in  which  the  furniture 
trade  is  de^'eloping,  but  the  facts  are  too  commonl}-  known  to  the 
general  public  to  make  it  worth  while  to  describe  them  here. 


THE    QUARRYING    INDUSTRY 

It  is  believed  that  the  first  marble  quarry  in  the  United  States 
was  that  opened  at  Dorset,  Vermont,  in  1785,  which  was  operated 
in  a  small  way.  About  1800  marble  was  quarried  and  sawed  into 
slabs  at  Marbledale,  Connecticut,  and  two  years  later  at  Stock- 
bridge,  Massachusetts.  The  area  of  marble  at  Rutland,  Vermont, 
where  the  largest  quarries  exist,  is  about  half  a  mile  square,  and 
the  marble  is  found  at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees. 


Courtesy  ingersoU-Serge. 


Broaching  in  Slate  with  Quarry  Bar. 


The  granite  business  of  the  United  States  dates  from  about 
1820,  when  work  was  begun  at  Ouincy,  Massachusetts.  The  granite 
for  Bunker  Hill  Monument  was  taken  out  of  the  quarry  there  in 
1827.  In  1880  the  granite  output  of  the  United  States  quarries 
was  valued  at  $5,000,000,  and  by  1900  this  value  was  trebled. 

About  1835  John  Baldwin,  later  founder  of  the  Baldwin  Uni- 
versity, quarried  sandstone  in  Ohio  and  hauled  it  to  Cleveland  by 
ox-teams,  gradually  establishing  a  market.  The  first  slate  was  quar- 
ried in  Vermont  in  1845  by  Colonel  Allen  and  Caleb  Ranney,  whose 

583 


584 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


quarry  is  still  yielding  a  fine  grade  of  slate.  About  1847  the  public 
demanded  slate  for  roofing  purposes,  which  greatly  strengthened 
the  quarrying  industry  of  Vermont. 


Ingersoll-Sergeant  Track  Chaiuielkr. 


More  stone  is  quarried  in  Pennsylvania  than  in  any  other  State 
in  the  Union,  Ohio  being  second.  Their  supremacy,  however,  comes 
principally  from  the  quarrying  of  limestone  and  miscellaneous  stone 
for  road-making.      In  the  quarrying  of  valuable  stone,   Vermont 


THE    QUARRYING    INDUSTRY 


585 


takes  the  lead.  Most  of  our  granite  comes  from  the  Eastern  States, 
our  slate  from  Vermont  and  Pennsylvania,  our  sandstone  from  Ohio, 
and  marble  from  Vermont,   Tennessee,   Georgia,   New   York  and 


A  Sullivan  Chaiineller  at  Work. 


Massachusetts.    The  variegated  marbles  of  Tennessee  are  principally 
used  for  interior  decoration. 

Common  stone  is  blasted  by  the  ordinary  method  of  boring 
holes  and  introducing  an  explosive,  but  powder  cannot  be  used  in 
blasting  marble,  as  it  damages  the  handsome  white  surfaces,  though 


586  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

it  may  be  employed  to  remove  the  stone  that  hes  above  the  marble. 
Instead  of  the  rock-drill,  therefore,  the  channelling-machine  becomes 
the  principal  reliance  of  the  marble  cjuarrier.  The  Sullivan  chan- 
neller,  which  is  here  illustrated,  is  mounted  on  a  small  track,  along 
which  it  runs,  performing  its  work.  The  steam-engine  and  boiler 
furnish  the  power,  and  the  gang  of  cutters  seen  extending  beyond 
the  edge  of  the  track,  cuts  the  channel  by  a  rapid  up-and-down 
motion.  The  steam  is  admitted  above  the  gang  of  cutters,  furnish- 
ing the  force  for  the  cutting  blow.  Cuts  fifteen  feet  in  depth  have 
been  made  from  a  single  level  with  the  Sullivan  machine  of  the 
heaviest  type.  It  is  built  in  a  variety  of  forms  according  to  the 
nature  and  location  of  the  work  for  which  it  is  designed.  Some 
are  arranged  with  a  horizontal  channelling  cutter,  which  may  be 
used  for  undercutting.  A  form  of  bar-channeller,  or  quarry-bar,  is 
also  made,  having  one  or  two  heavy  tubular  bars  mounted  at  each 
end  on  weighted  legs,  and  bearing  on  a  travelling-saddle  the  chan- 
nelling tools.  Such  a  channeller  may  also  be  employed  as  a  rock- 
drill. 

In  cutting  with  a  channeller,  water  is  applied  to  keep  the  cutters 
cool,  and,  if  possible,  one  end  of  the  channel  which  is  being  cut  is 
left  open,  so  that  the  water  and  mud  can  run  out.  A  scoop  mechan- 
ism is  provided,  however,  for  taking  out  accumulations  of  mud. 
The  hardness  of  the  blow  that  can  be  struck  with  the  cutters  depends 
upon  the  stone,  the  softer  the  stone  the  harder  the  blow.  In  cutting 
the  channel  the  machine  runs  back  and  forth  on  its  track,  cutting 
a  little  deeper  at  each  passage.  That  it  is  practicable  to  cut  almost 
perpendicular  walls  has  been  well  demonstrated  at  Niagara  Falls, 
where  a  cut  was  made  185  feet  deep  and  only  21  feet  wnde,  though 
260  feet  long,  for  the  Cataract  Construction  Company. 

A  machine  used  for  drilling  a  row  of  holes  in  order  to  break 
the  tier  of  rock  into  blocks,  or  for  some  similar  purpose,  using 
wedges  to  split  the  stone,  is  known  as  a  gadder.  This  machine  is  a 
sort  of  cross  between  a  rock-drill  and  a  channeller,  being  fitted  with 
a  drill  that  can  be  operated  in  any  direction. 

When  the  marble,  slate  or  other  stone  has  been  cut  out  at  the 
quarry,  it  is  usually  hoisted  through  the  medium  of  wire  ropeways, 
stretched  across  the  top  of  the  quarry.  Some  quarries  are  carried 
down  to  a  depth  of  several  hundred  feet,  and  after  a  considerable 
depth  is  reached  it  becomes  necessary  to  commence  underground 
mining  for  the  stone.  Hydraulic  washing  has  been  employed  at 
some  of  the  quarries  in  order  to  remove  the  surface  earth  and  small 
rocks  from  the  more  valuable  stone. 


THE    QUARRYING    INDUSTRY 


587 


Limestone  is  the  most  valuable  stone  quarried  in  the  United 
States,  taken  in  the  order  of  total  value  quarried,  being  followed  by 
granite,  sandstone,  marble  and  slate.  Of  course,  as  measured  by 
the  value  of  the  stone  itself,  marble  takes  the  lead. 

Italian  marble  was  regarded  as  the  best  in  this  country,  and 
was  in  greatest  demand  for  tombstone  purposes  up  to  1889,  about 
which  date  the  marble  of  the  local  quarries  secured  the  largest  sale. 


Courtesy  Sullivan   Mfg.  Company. 


Quarrying  in  Vermont. 


Since  then  our  improved  methods  of  getting  out  the  stone  have 
enabled  American  quarrymen  to  command  the  home  market, 
although  our  marble  is  not  as  white  as  the  average  Italian  marble. 

The  Italian  product  is  quarried  mainly  in  the  vicinity  of  Car- 
rara, which  is  a  mountainous  region,  and  the  work  there  is  done 
largely  by  hand-labor  with  very  inadequate  machinery.  In  the 
American  quarries  every  advantage  is  taken  of  modern  machinery, 
the  channelling-machine  having  been  in  use  since  its  introduction 
by  George  J.  \\'ardwell  in  1863. 


UTILIZATION    OF    FACTORY    WASTES    AND 
BY-PRODUCTS 

The  writer  once  heard  a  gas-engineer  assert  that  he  could  make 
illuminating  gas  at  the  works  at  no  cost  whatever,  the  by-products 
selling  for  a  sufficient  sum  to  pay  the  whole  cost  of  gas-making. 
Whether  or  not  this  was  an  extreme  statement  is  for  those  engaged 
in  the  gas  industry  to  decide.  Certainly,  the  tar  obtained  in  gas- 
making,  and  the  coke  which  is  held  for  sale,  and  the  ammonia  col- 
lected form  a  considerable  portion  of  the  income  of  a  gas-making 
establishment. 

In  these  days  of  sharp  competition  and  the  application  of  brains 
to  every  department  of  manufacturing  there  is  no  prominent  indus- 
try that  has  not  given  close  attention  to  means  for  securing  the  most 
money  for  the  by-products  or  waste  materials  which  are  produced 
in  a  particular  line  and  which  may  be  of  considerable  value  in  some 
other  industry. 

Take  the  saw-mill,  for  instance :  its  sawdust  was  formerly 
allowed  to  go  to  waste,  being  piled  in  heaps  or  allowed  to  float 
down  a  stream  as  an  easy  means  of  getting  rid  of  it.  Now  the 
lumber-mill  and  planing-mill  are  usually  supplied  with  conveyors 
that  carry  the  sawdust  and  short  ends  of  wood  either  to  the  fur- 
nace under  the  boilers  or  to  an  elevated  pocket  from  which  they 
can  be  later  dropped  into  wagons  and  sold.  The  sawdust  not  only 
thus  furnishes  the  power  for  driving  the  saws  that  cut  the  lumber, 
but  also  supplies  power  for  a  number  of  modern  conveniences  in 
the  way  of  handling  lumber  in  and  about  the  planing-mill. 

The  sawdust  that  is  sold  may  be  used  for  the  manufacture  of 
acetic  acid,  wood  naphtha  and  tar,  or  it  may  be  made  up  into  fire- 
kindlers  with  a  mixture  of  resin,  or  into  charcoal  briquettes,  as  is 
done  in  the  Netherlands.  Alcohol  has  been  made  from  sawdust — 
pine  sawdust  being  considered  the  best.  It  is  stated  that  220  pounds 
of  air-dried  sawdust,  containing  twenty  per  cent,  of  water,  have  been 
made  to  yield  over  seven  cjuarts  of  alcohol  of  a  good  ciuality.  Saw- 
dust is  largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  clay  and  potter3^  the  cen- 
sus returns  showing  that  the  manufacturers  in  that  line  paid  $20,000 
for  sawdust  in  the  census  year  1900.  When  sawdust  was  first  used 
for  paper-making,  the  idea  was  that  it  could  be  purchased  as  a  waste 
product,  lout  wood-paper  became  such  a  success  that  in  a  short  time 

588 


UTILIZATION  OF  FACTORY  WASTES  AND  BY-PRODUCTS     589 

the  idea  of  purchasing-  sawdust  was  wholly  abandoned,  and  the  paper 
manufacturer  is  now  one  of  the  largest  consumers  of  lumber. 


The  most  conspicuous  article  of  waste  in  the  iron  and  steel 
industry  is  the  slag  from  the  furnaces,  this  being  a  mixture  of  lime- 


590  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

Stone  and  iron  ore,  formed  chemically  in  the  blast-furnace,  and  of 
no  value  to  the  iron  manufacturer.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  esti- 
mated that  the  cost  of  removing  the  waste  slag  from  the  furnaces 
of  England  was  $2,500,000  annually.  Since  this  slag  has  come  into 
use  for  the  manufacture  of  bricks  and  slag-cement,  the  iron  manu- 
facturer has  been  considerably  relieved,  and  the  probabilities  are 
that  the  increased  use  of  slag-cement  will  make  it  possible  for  the 
iron  manufacturer  of  the  future  to  at  least  get  rid  of  his  slag  without 
expense. 

In  Germany  the  waste  gases  of  the  blast-furnace  are  used  for 
operating  gas-engines.  It  has  been  calculated  that  if  all  the  blast- 
furnaces of  Germany  utilized  their  waste  gases  in  this  way  that  there 
would  be  a  total  saving  of  $10,000,000  a  year.  The  reason  why 
this  is  not  done  in  the  United  States  is  because  our  principal  iron 
foundries  are  located  in  the  natural  gas  region,  and  therefore  could 
not  secure  the  same  economy. 

Scrap  iron  and  steel,  including  the  waste  at  the  iron-mills,  old 
machines  thrown  out  as  junk,  and  the  like,  are  regularly  used  in 
the  blast-furnaces  for  making  over  into  pig  iron,  and  we  even  im- 
ported about  50,000  tons  of  foreign  scrap  iron  and  waste  every 
year. 

A  valuable  by-product  in  the  manufacture  of  paper  is  the  soda 
that  is  recovered.  The  alkali  is  prevented  from  going  to  waste  by 
the  evaporation  of  the  waste  liquors,  and  the  burning  of  the  re- 
siduum, which  produces  a  carbonate  that  can  be  causticized  and 
prepared  for  reuse.  Before  paper  was  made  so  cheaply  from  wood, 
there  was  considerable  adulteration  of  rag-papers  with  pulp  made 
from  old  newspapers,  but  since  the  price  of  wood  newspaper  came 
down  to  two  cents  a  pound,  the  saving  by  introducing  pulp  from 
old  newspapers  has  been  so  trifling  that  it  has  been  almost  aban- 
doned. It  is  used,  however,  to  some  extent  as  a  filling  in  the  manu- 
facture of  paper-board  and  box-board. 

In  the  woollen  industry  the  principal  wastes  are  rags  and  wool 
grease.  The  rags  are  made  over  again  into  wool  the  same  as  raw 
material,  while  the  wool-grease  finds  a  sale  in  various  quarters. 
According  to  "  Industrial  Organic  Chemistry,"  a  ton  of  raw  wool 
will  furnish  about  300  quarts  of  yolk  solution  (which  is  principally 
wool-grease,  and  has  a  value  of  $3.75).  This  can  be  extracted  at  a 
cost  of  sixty  cents,  yielding  a  carbonate  of  potash  and  nitrogenous 
carbon  that  are  very  valuable  in  the  manufacture  of  yellow  prussiate 
of  potash.  There  are  numerous  other  minor  industries  that  make 
use  of  the  grease  and  potash  obtained  from  the  wool.     The  grease 


UTILIZATION  OF  FACTORY    WASTES  AND  BY-PRODUCTS 


591 


serves  as  a  base  for  ointments  and  toilet  preparations,  and  is  also 
valued  as  a  dressing  for  leather  and  for  mixing  with  certain  lubri- 
cating oils.  Nevertheless,  it  appears  by  the  last  census  returns  that 
two  or  three  million  dollars'  worth  of  wool-fat  and  potash  are  still 
allowed  to  run  to  waste  by  the  wool  producers  of  the  country. 
The  most  of  this  could  be  saved  by  establishing  degreasing  plants 


The  Reichhelni  Blower,  for  Ventilating,  etc. 

at  the  principal  points  where  wool  is  shipped.  The  "  degras"  used 
in  the  leather  industry  is  simply  brown  wool-grease,  though  the 
term  is  also  applied  to  what  is  known  as  "  sod  oil." 

In  cotton-mills  the  waste  that  is  too  short  for  spinning  is  made 
into  batting  and  wadding,  and  is  also  sold  for  machinists'  use  in 
oiling  and  wiping  machinery.  Cotton-seed,  which  was  once  itself 
a  waste,  and  which  now  yields  a  valued  oil,  is  worth  thirteen  per 
cent,  as  much  as  the  cotton  crop  of  the  country.  Its  waste  is  now 
divided  into  linters  and  hulls.     The  former  is  used  in  makingf  mat- 


592 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


tresses,  felt  hats  and  pillows,  while  the  hulls  are  used  as  a  cattle 
food. 

Meat  packers  secure  a  number  of  valuable  by-products  from 
the  slaughter-house,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  animals  going 
to  the  manufacturers  of  soap,  glue  and  fertilizers,  while  the  bones 
are  made  up  into  knife-handles  and  a  variety  of  small  articles  imi- 
tating ivory.  Many  of  the  hoofs  go  to  the  button  manufacturer, 
while  black  hoofs  are  valuable  to  the  manufacturer  of  cyanide  of 
potassium,  which  is  used  in  the  extraction  of  gold.  Neat's-foot  oil 
is  extracted  from  the  feet,  and  a  number  of  other  special  oils  are 
also  obtained.  Calves'  brains  are  in  some  demand  by  the  medical 
profession  for  the  cure  of  several  nervous  disorders. 

The  manufacture  of  oleomargerine  and  other  substitutes  for 
butter  from  beef  fat  is  an  industry  so  well  established  that  it  is 
hardly  thought  of  as  employing  what  was  formerly  a  waste  product, 
yet  there  was  a  time  when  a  great  deal  of  beef  suet  was  thrown 
away.  Glycerin  is  another  important  article  made  from  fat,  both 
animal  and  vegetable.  The  blood  of  slaughtered  animals  is  pur- 
chased by  tanners,  calico  printers  and  sugar  refiners.  From  glands 
and  membranes  are  obtained  pepsin,  ingluvin,  thymus,  thyroids,  pan- 
creatin,  parotid  substances,  etc.  The  brewers'  isinglass  is  also  a 
product  of  the  slaughter-house. 

Waste  bits  of  leather  may  be  moulded  and  thus  utilized  in  a 
number  of  w^ays,  even  paving  and  railway  ties  having  been  made 
therefrom.  A  process  has  been  devised  for  making  boot  and  shoe 
heels  of  leather  scraps,  and  the  inner  soles  of  cheap  shoes  are  some- 
times made  of  this  pressed  scrap  leather.  Such  leather  as  the  shoe- 
maker cannot  possibly  employ  is  turned  over  to  the  glue-maker. 

Gas-tar,  the  principal  by-product  in  gas-making,  is  of  great 
value  to  the  manufacturer  of  dyes,  and  is  used  in  medicines  and 
disinfectants,  and  also  for  the  production  of  a  saccharine  substance 
that  is  several  hundred  times  sweeter  than  sugar.  The  dye-house 
would  hardly  know  how  to  do  business  in  these  days  without  the 
products  obtained  from  gas-tar  or  coal-tar.  Naphthalene,  which  is 
one  of  the  products  that  was  formerly  considered  a  nuisance  by  the 
gas-maker,  is  most  valued  in  the  preparation  of  dyestuffs,  while  the 
aniline,  also  obtained  from  gas-tar  through  benzol,  is  universally 
known  as  a  most  productive  source  of  coloring  matter.  The  madder 
industry  of  Europe  has  been  very  largely  destroyed  by  the  manu- 
facture of  alizarin,  another  of  the  by-products  of  tar.  Artificial 
indigo,  that  seems  quite  as  good  and  is  cheaper  than  the  imported 
article,  is  obtained  by  a  synthetic  process  from  coal-tar.     Taken 


UTILIZATION  OF  FACTORY  WASTES  AND  BY-PRODUCTS     593 

altogether,  the  coal-tar  color  industry,  which  is  based  entirely  on 
this  by-product  of  gas-making,  now  bids  fair  to  supplant  dyewood 
extracts,  the  former  having  the  advantage  of  giving  superior  results 
and  being  more  easy  of  application. 

While  coke  production  is  the  basis  of  the  tar-color  industry, 
it  also  affords  a  source  of  ammonia,  and  as  the  demand  for  ammonia 
increases  faster  than  the  supply,  a  considerable  quantity  is  obtained 
as  a  by-product  in  gas-making,  and  finds  a  ready  sale. 

In  the  manufacture  and  refining  of  asphaltum,  sulphuric  acid  is 
obtained,  also  carbonic  acid,  boracic  acid,  bluestone,  and  epsom 
salts. 

Old  rubber  is  now  often  devulcanized  and  desulphurized  by 
steam  heat,  being  thus  brought  to  a  condition  where  it  can  be  used 
again  as  rubber  by  mixing  with  new  material,  and  is  quite  satis- 
factory for  such  purposes  as  boot-heels  and  heavy  soles. 

The  mash  or  exhausted  grain  of  the  breweries  is  sold  for  cattle- 
food,  and  has  considerable  nutritive  value,  being  best  when  mixed 
with  hay.  It  is  estimated  that  the  breweries  of  the  United  States  dis- 
pose of  about  300,000  bushels  of  this  exhausted  grain  every  year. 
There  are  about  25,000  tons  of  similar  waste  produced  in  the  manu- 
facture of  hops  in  the  United  States,  and  as  no  use  has  been  found 
for  these,  the  information  is  here  given  to  the  inventive  reader  as 
an  opportunity  that  will  certainly  bring  money  to  the  man  who  can 
find  some  good  use  for  them. 

Among  minor  savings  of  waste  may  be  mentioned  the  scraps 
of  tin  remaining  after  stamping  out  boxes  or  cans,  etc.,  which  scrap 
is  made  up  into  sash-weights  and  ^similar  articles ;  mussel-shells, 
which  were  formerly  thrown  away,  are  now  valued  by  the  button 
manufacturer;  broken  glass  is  being  used  as  a  building  material, 
being  ground,  devitrified,  and  made  into  an  artificial  stone;  sifted 
ashes  have  also  been  used  in  the  manufacture  of  artificial  stone  in 
Germany;  the  once  useless  corn-pith  now  has  a  value  as  cellulose 
for  lining  the  armor  of  a  battle-ship ;  an  oil  is  obtainable  from  corn 
(such  as  comes  as  waste  from  breweries  and  distilleries)  which  is 
capable  of  being  vulcanized  and  being  used  as  an  adulterant  for 
rubber,  etc.  Time  and  ingenuity  seem  able  to  make  from  every 
waste  a  product  of  some  commercial  value. 


38 


GARBAGE    AND    WASTE    MATERIAL 

The  term  ''  garbage"  is  very  comprehensive,  but  it  has  come 
to  have  a  restricted  use  covering  the  scrapings  from  the  dinner-table 
and  kitchen  refuse  made  in  preparing  food ;  in  other  words,  those 
animal  and  vegetable  substances  that  accumulate  in  a  household 
and  which  tend  to  ferment  or  sour,  so  as  to  become  a  nuisance  if 
kept  for  any  length  of  time.  In  the  broader  and  more  common 
usage  it  includes  also  ashes,  street  sweepings,  and  any  form  of  rub- 
bish. There  are  no  official  statistics  in  regard  to  garbage  disposal, 
but  Messrs.  Winslow  and  Hansen,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  compiled  in  1902,  for  the  benefit  of  the  American  Pub- 
lic Health  Association,  of  Washington,  returns  from  155  out  of  the 
161  cities  of  the  United  States  having  populations  of  over  25,000. 
It  was  found  that  eighty-two  per  cent,  of  these  cities  had  regular 
systems  of  garbage  collection,  a  small  majority  of  them  performing' 
the  work  by  a  branch  of  the  city  government  and  the  remainder  by 
contract  with  private  parties.  These  figures  demonstrate  that  prac- 
tically all  the  large  cities  of  the  country  have  come  to  recognize  that 
it  is  a  municipal  duty  to  collect  garbage,  refuse  and  ashes  accumu- 
lated by  the  citizens.  From  the  same  source  it  is  learned  that  more 
than  two-thirds  of  the  cities  included  in  the  returns  separate  the 
garbage  and  ashes,  many  of  them  making  a  still  further  separation, 
as  of  combustible  wastes.  The  ashes  are  usually  disposed  of  by 
dumping,  to  fill  in  land,  but  in  a  few  cases  they  are  cremated.  The 
garbage  proper  is  disposed  of  in  the  following  ways : 

No.  of  Cities. 

Dumping  on  land 44 

Feeding  to  live  stock  41 

Cremation 27 

Reduction  or  utilization    19 

Plowing  in  or  using  as  fertilizer   18 

Dumping  in  water  14 

Irregular  disposal  by  private  parties  11 

Burning  on  dump - 9 

The  number  of  methods  employed  would  indicate  that  no  best 
means  has  yet  been  discovered  for  disposal.  The  method  followed 
by  the  greatest  number  of  cities — that  of  dumping  on  land — seems 
to,  be  the  very  worst  from  a  hygienic  point  of  view.     The  feeding 

594 


GARBAGE    AND    WASTE    MATERIAL 


595 


of  garbage  to  stock  seems  to  the  writer  to  be  the  most  satisfactory- 
means,  and  usually  yields  a  slight  revenue  to  the  city  adopting  this 
method.  The  pig  is  apt  to  be  the  animal  favored,  and  a  number 
of  successful  pig-farms  are  run  on  kitchen  garbage  or  swill  pur- 
chased from  near-by  cities,  the  animals  appearing  to  be  cjuite  as  well 
as  when  fed  on  more  delectable  foods.  The  practice  has  been 
largely  disapproved  of,  however,  though  it  has  found  a  few  strong 
advocates,  as  Dr.  Chapin,  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  The  writer 
became  converted  to  this  system  by  observing  its  operation  in  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  and  studying  the  results  at  the  pig-farm. 


A  Garbagfe  Press. 


Using  garbage  as  a  fertilizer  is  well  thought  of,  but  seldom 
practised,  because  the  expense  of  transportation  is  generally  greater 
than  the  value  of  the  garbage  to  the  agriculturist.  Cremation  seems 
to  be  the  plan  that  meets  with  the  greatest  public  favor,  and  which 
is  adopted  wholly  or  partially  by  most  very  large  cities;  but  the 
cost  of  burning  is  considerable,  the  lowest  figure  being  that  of  Alle- 
gheny, Pennsylvania,  which  was  given  at  twenty-five  cents  per  ton 
before  it  was  abandoned,  and  the  highest  figure  being  in  New  York 
City,  where  it  costs  three  dollars  per  ton ;  probably  the  average  cost 
is  over  a  dollar  per  ton. 


596 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


In  New  York  city  the  care  of  garbage  devolves  upon  the  De- 
partment of  Street  Cleaning.  Here  the  refuse  is  divided  into  four 
classes — garbage,  ashes,  street-sweepings  and  rubbish.  House- 
holders are  obliged  to  deposit  their  waste  in  separate  packages, 
ashes  going  into  one  can,  garbage  into  another,  and  newspapers  and 
other  rubbish  into  the  third.  It  required  a  large  amount  of  educa- 
tion before  the  public  became  accustomed  to  separating  its  garbage 
in  the  manner  desired  by  the  department.  First,  notices  were  printed 
in  the  newspapers,  and  then  circulars  were  sent  to  every  citizen. 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


Unloading-  a  Garbage  Scow. 


this  being  followed  up  by  personal  visits  from  policemen,  who  ex- 
plained to  the  people  that  they  were  liable  to  arrest  if  they  did 
not  follow  the  directions  of  the  department.  When  the  garbage 
was  not  properly  divided  the  department  would  refuse  to  carry  it 
away,  and  if  this  did  not  conquer  an  obdurate  householder  arrest 
was  resorted  to,  followed  by  a  fine,  until  the  public  began  to  under- 
stand that  it  was  necessary  to  so  divide  the  refuse,  and  that  the 
ordinance  to  that  effect  would  be  enforced. 

The  New  York  Street  Cleaning  Department  uses  steel-bodied, 
water-tight  carts,  having  canvas  covers.     These  travel  daily  from 


GARBAGE    AND    WASTE    MATERIAL  597 

house  to  house,  emptying  the  garbage-cans  that  are  set  out  on  the 
sidewalk.  These  carts  dehver  the  garbage  to  the  scows  of  the  Sani- 
tary UtiHzation  Company,  to  the  amount  of  over  600  tons  daily. 
In  1902  New  York  began  to  dump  its  refuse  on  a  shallow  spot  off 
Rikers  Island,  but  so  much  garbage  was  dumped  with  the  ashes 
and  refuse  that  it  became  a  public  nuisance,  and  the  work  was 
stopped  by  the  courts.  Dumping  was  resumed  there  later,  however, 
only  ashes  and  unobjectionable  material  being  used  as  filling,  and  the 
island  is  being  built  up  in  a  way  that  may  be  valuable. 

The  Street  Cleaning  Department  of  New  York  has  recently 
built  two  incinerators  for  burning  up  such  rubbish  as  is  not  salable 
or  which  might  be  contaminated  with  disease,  as  old  bedding.  The 
ashes  obtained  from  this  burning  are  rich  in  potash  and  ammonia, 
and  are  used  to  nourish  the  trees  in  the  parks  and  are  also  sold  to 
soap  manufacturers. 

It  was  formerly  the  custom  to  carry  New  York's  garbage  out 
to  sea  in  scows,  dumping  it  at  a  distance  from  land,  that  it  might 
become  food  for  fishes ;  but  so  much  of  it  was  washed  back  upon 
the  beaches,  becoming  a  general  nuisance,  that  this  method  was 
stopped.  The  Sanitary  Utilization  Company  now  carries  the  gar- 
bage to  Barren  Island,  where  it  is  first  treated  in  a  retort  for 
eighteen  hours  with  live  steam  at  eighty  pounds'  pressure,  and  is 
then  taken  to  large  hydraulic  presses  that  separate  the  fluid  por- 
tion, called  tankage,  which  is  allowed  to  drain  off  from  the  solid 
portion,  which  has  some  value  as  a  fertilizer.  The  garbage  is  tui- 
loaded  from  the  scows  by  metal  belt  conveyors  and  carried  direct 
to  the  retorts.  The  top  of  the  tankage  is  mainly  oil,  which  is 
skimmed  off,  clarified,  and  used  for  various  commercial  purposes; 
the  remainder  of  the  tankage  is  mixed  with  brown  phosphate  rock 
and  forms  a  good  fertilizer,  being  rich  in  ammonia. 

The  above  is  known  as  the  Arnold  method  of  garbage  reduc- 
tion;  there  are  other  processes,  as  the  treating  of  the  garbage  in 
lead-lined  tanks  with  sulphuric  acid,  after  which  steam  heat  is  ap- 
plied. Ashes,  when  in  good  condition  and  iree  from  fermenting 
garbage,  have  some  little  value  in  most  localities  for  filling  land. 
They  sell  in  many  cities  for  from  twelve  to  eighteen  cents  per  cubic 
yard.  The  carting  of  ashes  in  New  York  City  has  been  rendered 
much  easier  because  of  contracts  made  with  the  surface  trolley  lines. 
Special  cars  made  to  carry  ashes  are  filled  by  the  department  and 
run  on  the  trolley  line  at  night  to  salt  marsh  lands  in  the  suburbs, 
where  they  are  dumped,  this  system  doing  away  with  the  nuisance 
of  ash-carts  travelling  through  the  city  and  blowing  dust  in  all 


59^ 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


directions.  In  using  ashes  to  fill  in  land  at  Rikers  Island  a  belt 
conveyor  is  employed  and  the  ashes  are  thrown  into  convenient 
piles.  These  are  afterwards  levelled  after  the  method  used  in  hy- 
draulic mining,  a  powerful  stream  of  water  being  thrown  from  a 
hose  so  that  the  ashes  are  spread  out  and  evenly  distributed. 

An  important  part  of  the  collection  of  rubbish  of  New  York 
City  consists  of  newspapers,  of  which  some  twenty-two  tons  are 
collected  daily.  The  street-sweepings,  which  amount  to  a  daily  aver- 
age of  1600  sacks,  are  delivered  to  the  railways,  being  desired  by 
them  for  use  on  the  top  of  embankments,  because  the  material  forms 
a  o-ood  basis  for  a  s:rowth  of  g:rass. 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


\'iew  ill  Baltimore  Garbage  Reduction  Works. 


The  rubbish  collected  with  garbage  includes  a  variety  of  old 
trash,  as  bottles,  broken  furniture,  old  bedding,  old  clothes,  kettles, 
cans,  old  shoes,  sweepings,  broken  ornaments  and  small  articles,  and 
the  thousand  and  one  things  that  people  throw  away  when  they 
have  outlived  their  usefulness.  The  men  who  handle  the  rubbish 
could  tell  a  story  as  to  what  becomes  of  all  the  pins,  and  occasion- 
ally a  little  stray  silverware  or  something  valuable  turns  up.  A 
cylindrical  sifting-machine  at  Barren  Island  was  found  blocked  on 
one  occasion,  refusing  to  do  its  work,  and  on  examination  it  was 
found  that  nearly  all  the  holes  had  been  stopped  by  an  accumulation 
of  hairpins.     At  the  office  of  the  Sanitary  Utilization  Company  at 


GARBAGE    AND    WASTE    MATERIAL 


599 


Barren  Island  is  exhibited  the  remains  of  a  one-dollar  bill  which 
was  recovered  from  the  solid  products  of  one  of  the  hydraulic 
presses,  thus  narrowly  escaping  being  used  as  a  fertilizer. 

The  city  of  Baltimore  has  an  up-to-date  plant  for  the  reduction 
of  garbage.  The  tank-wagons  that  make  the  collections  from  the 
city  are  dumped  into  scows  that  are  towed  to  the  reduction  works. 
These  scows  are  emptied  automatically  by  endless  conveyors,  which 
brings  the  cost  down  to  the  lowest  notch.  The  plan  includes  twenty- 
eight  digesters,  each  of  ten  tons'  capacity.  The  garbage  placed  in 
these  disfesters  is  hermeticallv  sealed,  then  steam  is  turned  on,  em- 


Courtesy  Scientific  Ai 


\'ie\v  in  Baltimore  Gail 


Works. 


ploying  a  pressure  of  about  one  hundred  pounds  and  a  temperature 
of  200  degrees,  for  the  purpose  of  sterilizing  the  material.  A  roller 
press  is  employed  to  separate  the  solid  from  the  liquid  material,  this 
press  being  one  of  the  largest  ever  built,  with  a  capacity  of  ten 
tons  pe-r  hour.  It  operates  almost  wholly  without  any  attention, 
squeezing  out  the  moisture,  which  flows  into  tanks  or  catch-basins. 
From  the  top  of  these  basins  the  grease  is  secured  by  pumping  and 
sold  to  soap  manufacturers.  Owing  to  the  sterilization  the  solid 
matter  obtained  is  singularly  pure  and  free  from  odor.  A  fertilizer- 
plant  is  being  constructed  in  connection  with  these  garbage-works 
and  will  be  in  operation  the  present  year,  1904. 


6oo  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

A  committee  of  the  American  Public  Health  Association  ap- 
pointed to  consider  the  best  means  of  disposing  of  garbage  and 
refuse,  reported,  a  few  years  since,  generally  in  favor  of  house-to- 
house  gathering  in  covered  carts  or  wagons,  and  that  such  collec- 
tions are  best  made  daily  during  the  summer  months,  and  in  all 
large  cities  at  least  two  or  three  times  a  week  all  the  year  round. 
In  smaller  places  the  practice  of  collecting  once  a  week  is  the  com- 
mon one.  The  committee  expressed  the  opinion  very  strongly  that 
even  in  sparsely  settled  sections,  as  far  out  in  the  suburbs  of  cities, 
collections  should  be  made  at  least  three  times  a  week  in  the  spring 
and  fall,  and  not  less  than  twice  a  week  in  cold  weather.  If  left 
for  a  longer  period,  garbage  becomes  a  nuisance,  often  detrimental 
to  public  health. 

The  statistics  collected  by  the  committee  went  to  show  that  the 
quantity  of  kitchen  garbage  and  combustible  refuse  is  greater  per 
inhabitant  in  America  than  in  England,  and  in  England  it  is  greater 
than  in  Germany.  The  amount  of  organic  matter  in  American  gar- 
bage is  greater,  and  it  also  contains  more  moisture,  and  is  therefore 
harder  to  dispose  of  by  burning  than  in  foreign  cities,  especially  as 
the  garbage  of  the  latter  contains  much  half-burnt  coal. 

The  committee  found  that  in  nearly  all  European  cities  the  gar- 
bage and  dry  refuse,  including  ashes,  were  all  mixed  together  and 
removed  without  any  effort  at  separation.  In  American  cities  the 
tendency  to  separate  the  refuse  increases  with  the  size  of  the  city. 
The  fact  that  the  kitchen  refuse  or  swill  is  of  some  value  for  feed- 
ing to  pigs,  and  that  there  may  be  recovered  from  the  garbage  a 
fair  percentage  of  grease  and  other  material  suitable  for  manu- 
facturing fertilizers,  has  caused  many  cities  to  sell  or  endeavor  to 
sell  their  refuse  at  a  profit.  While  a  portion  of  the  expense  can  be 
met  in  this  way,  no  real  profit  has  ever  been  made  from  the  collection 
and  disposal  of  garbage.  The  committee  were  of  the  opinion  that 
the  burning  of  garbage  would  continue  to  increase,  and  that  the 
English  form  of  furnace  for  this  purpose  was  rather  better  than  the 
American.  The  furnace  referred  to  has  a  sloping  ante-chamber, 
where  there  is  a  preliminary  drying  and  heating  of  the  garbage,  and 
this  seems  to  result  more  economically  than  where  it  is  thrown  into 
the  furnace  in  a  moist  condition. 

Large  cities  commonly  dispose  of  their  sewage  by  leading  it 
into  an  adjacent  river,  where  it  is  supposed  to  be  more  or  less  puri- 
fied by  natural  processes.  The  system  answers  very  well  where  the 
city  is  not  too  large  and  the  river  has  a  large  flow  of  water.  In  the 
case  of  the  city  of  London,  however,  the  Thames  proved  entirely 


GARBAGE    AND    WASTE    MATERIAL  6oi 

inadequate  a  number  of  years  ago  to  the  task  of  carrying  off  the 
city's  filth.  The  nuisance  was  abated  by  carrying  the  outlet  of  the 
sewers  some  fifteen  miles  down  stream,  but  after  a  time  this  was 
found  insufficient,  and  the  sewage  is  now  subjected  to  chemical 
treatment  and  sedimentation  before  it  is  allowed  to  flow  into  the 
river.  This  treatment  consists  in  straining  the  sewage  and  treat- 
ing the  matter  retained  by  the  screens  with  solutions  of  lime  and 
sulphate  of  iron.  A  portion  is  then  allowed  to  run  off  into  the  river, 
while  the  heaviest  part,  known  as  sludge,  is  sent  out  in  tank-steamers 
to  the  ocean. 

The  city  of  Chicago  solved  the  problem  of  getting  rid  of  its 
sewage  by  building  the  now  famous  drainage-canal  from  Chicago 
to  Lockport,  a  distance  of  twenty-eight  miles.  It  was  found  that 
the  emptying  of  the  sewage  into  Lake  Michigan  resulted  in  the 
polluting  of  the  shores  until  the  nuisance  was  unbearable.  The 
sewage  is  treated  before  entering  the  drainage-canal,  which  is  also 
used  as  a  ship-canal. 

As  cities  grow  larger  the  problems  of  disposing  of  unwhole- 
some sewage  and  refuse  become  greater.  The  world  is  only  just 
learning  how  to  take  care  of  such  matters  with  a  due  regard  for 
sanitation.  Doubtless,  the  great  cities  of  coming  generations  will 
use  vastly  improved  methods  over  the  comparatively  crude  means 
that  have  been  here  described. 


ODD  AND  CURIOUS  INDUSTRIES  AND  MECHANISMS 


The  "  trackless  trolley"  is  the  name  given  to  a  new  form  of 
vehicle  that  comes  half-way  between  the  automobile  and  the  trolley 
car.  The  illustration  shows  one  that  is  doing  business  as  a  bus  in 
Scranton,  Pennsylvania.  It  rides  easier  than  the  ordinary  trolley 
car  and  can  do  something  in  the  way  of  turning  out  when  it  meets 
other  vehicles.  The  power  required  for  its  operation  is  considerably 
greater  than  for  a  trolley  car,  but  there  is  no  track  to  be  laid  or 


L.iinti-,\    I  1.    in    II  World  and  Engirieer. 

Trolley  Bus  at  Scranton,  Pennsylvania. 

kept  in  order.  A  similar  system  is  in  use  in  several  European  towns. 
The  use  of  unusually  long  trolley  poles  results  in  reduced  danger 
of  losing  the  wire  by  reason  of  the  vehicle  running  to  one  side. 
Further  protection  against  this  annoyance  is  obtained  by  the  double 
poles  and  the  method  of  attaching  the  wheels.  The  writer  believes 
that  Thomas  Cummerford  Martin,  of  New  York,  was  the  first  to 
suggest  this  form  of  vehicle  about  1894,  but  it  has  made  slow  head- 
way in  public  favor,  though  there  are  many  things  to  recommend  it. 

The  human  figure  reproduced  in  marble  is  considered  the  high- 
est type  of  the  art  of  statuary,  the  sculptor  ever  having  ranked  with 
the  artist  in  oils,  and  often  commanding  much  higher  prices  for  his 
work.    The  most  artistic  and  difficult  part  of  the  work  of  a  sculptor 

602 


rti-sj    I'.jpular  Mt-<  li.in 


Sculpturing  Maeliiuc  begmiiing  Work  on  Busts. 


6o4  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

consists  in  forming  the  clay  model,  which  is  afterwards  copied  in 
marble.  Upon  a  rough  wooden  framework  the  artist  piles  his  clay, 
moulding  it  into  the  proper  form  with  the  simplest  tools  and  often 
with  his  bare  hands,  guided  by  his  eye  and  judgment.  The  clay 
used  is  similar  to  that  employed  for  making  common  white  stone- 
ware. The  true  artist  has  to  improve  upon  his  model  rather  than 
to  slavishly  copy  it ;  he  is  also  obliged  to  make  some  slight  mechani- 
cal differences  in  order  to  produce  the  desired  effects,  for,  like  the 
artist  in  oils,  it  is  the  effect  that  he  seeks,  and  by  which  he  will  be 
judged. 

When  the  soft  clay  is  shaped  to  the  sculptor's  satisfaction, 
plaster-of-Paris  casts  are  made  therefrom  in  order  to  preserve  the 
work,  for  the  clay  is  perishable.  A  number  of  casts  or  parts  are 
usually  necessary  in  order  to  secure  an  entire  mould  that  will  sur- 
round and  reproduce  all  portions  of  the  clay  figure,  and  which  can 
be  taken  away  without  injuring  it.  These  pieces  or  casts  can  then 
be  fitted  together  to  form  the  mould,  which  can  be  filled  with  a  very 
fine  grade  of  plaster  of  Paris,  which,  on  becoming  hardened,  is  a 
reproduction  of  the  clay  model  in  more  solid  and  durable  form.  It 
is  from  the  plaster  model  so  made  that  the  work  on  the  marble  is 
taken.  The  man  who  reproduces  the  model  in  the  marble  may  be 
and  usually  is  a  skilful  man,  but  he  is  not  ranked  with  the  artist  who 
makes  the  clay  original.  The  plaster  model  is  set  alongside  the 
marble  which  is  to  be  carved,  and  a  pointing  instrument  is  used  to 
fix  the  main  lines  that  are  to  be  cut  away  in  the  marble.  The  pointer 
is  so  designed  that  the  block  may  be  hewn  aw^ay,  or  a  hole  may  be 
bored  to  any  point  indicated,  with  the  assurance  that  the  cutting  will 
not  go  below  the  surface  of  the  figure  to  be  hewn.  By  this  mechani- 
cal means  the  figure  is  roughly  formed  in  the  marble,  the  pointer 
having  located  numerous  parts  accurately,  so  that  the  artist  can 
depend  upon  his  eye  to  guide  him  in  carving  between  the  points. 
He  has  merely  to  copy  exactly  what  he  sees.  When  the  marble 
comes  back  to  the  artist  who  made  the  original  clay  model,  he  puts 
on  those  finishing  touches  that  remove  all  suggestion  of  immobility, 
and  constitute  the  difference  between  the  work  of  the  copyist  and 
the  originator. 

One  by  one  the  arts  give  way  before  the  progress  of  mechanical 
ingenuity,  and  the  field  of  the  sculptor  has  not  been  exempt.  An 
Italian  by  the  name  of  Bontempi  has  invented  a  machine  for  repro- 
ducing a  model,  as  a  human  head,  or  anything  else  that  it  is  desired 
to  represent  in  marble.  In  order  to  produce  a  statue  of  a  great 
man,  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to  employ  some  talented  sculptor 


ODD    AND    CURIOUS    INDUSTRIES    AND    MECHANISMS     605 

in  building  a  clay  model,  occupying  months  of  time  and  requiring 
great  skill  and  long  experience,  and  to  follow  this  up  with  months 


Courtesy  Scientitic  American. 

Sculpturing:  Machine  Making  Finishing  Cuts  on  Busts. 

of  labor   in   boring  and   chiselling   the   marble.      Now   the   great 
man  has  simply  to  sit  in  front  of  the  mechanical  sculptor  while 


6o6 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


a  pointer  takes  a  pattern  of  his  face,  and  guides  a  machine  that  cuts 
the  marble.  This  wonderful  machine  will  make  two  or  three  marble 
statues  or  busts  as  easily  as  one,  about  seven  hours'  work  being  suffi- 
cient to  produce  one  or  more  good  busts. 

It  was  exploited  in  London  by  A.  Conan  Doyle  in  1903  and 
attracted  much  attention.  For  making  two  busts  at  once,  two  rapidly 
rotating  cutters  are  made  to  operate  on  blocks  of  marble,  under  the 
guidance  of  a  pointer  that  is  drawn  over  the  features  of  the  model. 
These  cutters  grind  away  the  marble  very  rapidly,  pulverizing  it 
so  that  it  runs  away  with  the  cooling  water  used  in  a  milk-like 
stream.     The  exhibition  machine  which  is  here  illustrated  cost  only 


I'tiited 


M.ii  atawa  Park,  Michigan. 


$2500.  The  operator  is  not  required  to  possess  any  unusual  skill, 
as  the  machine  will  positively  duplicate  the  model.  By  this  means 
it  is  thought  that  the  world's  famous  statues  will  hereafter  be  repro- 
duced in  marble  instead  of  in  plaster,  so  that  the  leading  art  galleries 
of  the  world  can  have  more  perfect  imitations  than  they  now 
possess. 

The  principle  of  this  machine  is  quite  similar  to  one  devised  in 
the  United  States  about  ten  years  ago  for  carving  gravestones,  mon- 
uments, etc.,  and  making  surface  ornamentation  in  stone  and  gran- 
ite. The  Italian  machine  does  much  finer  work,  however,  repro- 
ducing every  wrinkle  or  dimple  with  minute  accuracy.     In  doing 


ODD    AND    CURIOUS    INDUSTRIES    AND    MECHANISMS     607 

the  coarser  work  of  roughing  out  the  statue  coarse  cutters  are  used, 
finer  ones  being  substituted  for  doing  the  final  cutting.  After  the 
machine  has  done  its  work  it  is  only  necessary  to  sand-paper  the 
bust,  when  it  is  ready  for  the  market. 

The  reproduction  of  statues  in  plaster  of  Paris  is  performed 
very  much  in  the  manner  roughly  outlined  as  used  in  making  a 
plaster  model  from  the  clay  model,  but  when  it  comes  to  repro- 
duction in  bronze,  the  work  to  be  well  done  requires  a  great  deal 
of  technical  as  well  as  artistic  knowledge.  It  is  claimed  that  bronze 
casting  has  deteriorated  in  America  owing  to  the  work  having  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  ordinary  founders,  who  treated  it  the  same 
as  common  metal  castings,  using  sand  and  loam  moulds  that  failed 
to  give  very  sharp  results,  losing  the  accuracy  of  minor  details.  In 
preparing  to  cast  in  bronze,  in  order  that  the  figure  may  be  hollow, 
a  rough  core  has  to  be  formed,  and  around  this  are  placed  the  parts 
of  the  mould  that  have  been  modelled  on  the  lines  of  the  statue.  As 
has  been  said,  sand-moulds  are  objectionable  in  that  they  do  not 
reproduce  a  surface  with  perfect  accuracy,  but  a  mixture  of  plaster 
of  Paris  and  brickdust  ground  very  fine  has  been  found  to  give  good 
satisfaction,  although  such  a  mould  is  so  fragile  that  it  has  to  be 
supported  with  iron  embedded  in  its  mass.  Of  course,  the  making 
of  such  moulds  is  tedious  and  requires  the  utmost  care  as  well  as 
the  most  thorough  drying.  When  ready  for  casting,  the  mould,  care- 
fully bound  with  iron  hoops,  is  embedded  in  a  pit  of  sand',  weights 
being  laid  upon  the  top  to  prevent  any  rising  because- of  the  entrance 
of  the  molten  metal.  A  pour-hole  having  been  provided  for  the 
molten  metal,  and  also  smaller  openings  for  the  easy  and  perfect 
escape  of  the  air,  the  hot  metal  can  be  run  into  the  mould,  and  if  the 
work  has  been  done  properly  will  reach  every  part  of  it.  A  bronze 
cast  made  in  this  way  will  reproduce  a  statue  almost  perfectly,  but 
can  be  used  but  once,  as  it  comes  off  from  the  cast  in  dry  dust.  Such 
a  casting  requires  some  hand-finishing  to  get  rid  of  minor  imperfec- 
tions and  efface  sprues  and  joints.  Sometimes  artificial  means  are 
then  employed  to  color  the  figure,  giving  it  an  appearance  of  age, 
but  if  the  bronze  is  a  correct  mixture,  as  ninety-one  parts  of  copper 
to  nine  parts  of  tin,  time  will  give  it  a  better  color  than  anything 
else. 

The  machine  oil  painting  is  not  nearly  so  good  or  artistic  as 
the  machine-made  statue,  but  it  finds  considerable  sale  in  the  cheaper 
so-called  art-stores.  These  machine-made  paintings  are  produced 
in  the  following  manner :  A  row  of  perhaps  fifty  canvases  is  placed 
around  the  walls  of  a  room  at  a  convenient  height  for  painting.     A 


6o8 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


good  painting  being  provided  as  a  model,  an  artist  takes  a  can  of 
paint,  mixed  to  the  sky-color  used  in  the  picture,  and  going  from 
canvas  to  canvas  daubs  it  on  each  one  at  lightning  speed.  He  fol- 
lows this  up  by  applying  other  masses  of  color,  one  at  a  time,  to 
each  canvas,  until  all  are  covered  with  a  coarse  imitation  of  the 
original  picture,  about  the  only  merit  being  that  .the  colors  are 
carefully  mixed,  and  therefore  very  closely  approximate  the  origi- 
nal. The  finer  touches  are  then  put  on,  a  little  at  a  time  on  each 
picture,  as  the  artist  never  stops  to  mix  new  tints  or  colors,  ex- 
cept after  making  the  entire  round  of  the  room.     In  this  way  a 


Courtesy  Electrical  World  and  Engineer. 

Reid's  Apparatus  for  Obtaining  Electricity  Direct  from  Coal. 

clever  man  will  finish  the  whole  fifty  pictures  in  perhaps  two  weeks' 
time,  so  that  the  manufacturing  cost  of  painting  them  is  only  one 
to  two  dollars  each,  according  to  the  value  of  the  artist's  time.  Such 
pictures,  viewed  from  a  distance  of  about  twenty-five  feet,  are  hardly 
distinguishable  from  really  good  paintings,  and  those  who  have 
never  learned  to  appreciate  the  fine  qualities  of  oil  paintings  often 
fail  to  see  any  difference  at  all  between  them  and  the  really  great 
productions. 

For  the  last  half -century  numerous  inventors  have  tackled  the 
problem  of  securing  a  current  of  electricity  direct  from  coal  without 
the  intervention  of  a  steam-engine  and  all  the  cumbrous  mechanism 
involved  by  present  methods.      Some  inventions  in  this  field  have 


ODD    AND    CURIOUS    INDUSTRIES    AND    MECHANISMS     609 

been  very  ingenious  and  have  attracted  wide  attention.  One  of  the 
simplest  as  well  as  one  of  the  oldest  methods  proposed  is  the  use 
of  what  is  known  as  a  thermo-electric  couple,  which  is  made  by 
joining  two  or  more  bars  of  metals  that  have  different  ability  to 
conduct  electricity.  If  a  flame  be  applied  to  the  junction  of  the 
bars,  in  alternation  with  a  cooling  arrangement,  an  electric  current 
will  be  set  up  in  a  wire  connecting  the  outer  ends  of  the  bars.  By 
this  system  an  electric  current  can  be  secured  directly  from  the  coal, 
but  the  current  is  so  small  as  to  be  valueless  for  commercial  pur- 
poses. 

The  most  recent  as  well  as  promising  invention  in  this  field  is 
a  fuel-gas  battery  devised  by  James  H.  Reid,  of  Newark,  New  Jer- 
sey. His  method  consists  in  conducting  the  fuel-gas  into  a  porous 
chamber  that  is  impervious  to  a  liquid,  though  permitting  the  escape 
of  gas.  He  maintains  a  heated  liquid  electrolyte  at  the  opposite  face 
of  the  chamber  and  supplies  oxygen  to  the  heated  electrolyte,  pro- 
viding conductors  for  the  electricity  that  is  developed  to  carry  it  from 
the  porous  chamber  and  from  the  liquid  electrolyte.  The  electrolyte 
employed  is  composed  of  sodium  hydrate,  calcium  chloride  and  iron 
oxide,  being  heated  to  a  temperature  of  390°  F.  Penetrating  into 
the  electrolyte  and  insulated  from  the  iron  vessel  are  hollow  elec- 
trodes made  of  carbon ;  these  latter  are  of  positive  polarity,  while 
the  iron  vessel  is  negative.  Fuel-gas  being  forced  into  the  hollow 
carbons,  the  theory  of  the  machine  is  that  it  percolates  through  the 
porous  walls  of  the  carbon  so  that  the  carbon  and  hydrogen  of  the 
gas,  uniting  with  the  oxygen  in  the  electrolyte,  result  in  the  pro- 
duction of  an  electric  current,  which  continues  as  long  as  the  gas 
is  supplied. 

With  the  sixty  horse-power  machine  illustrated,  the  inventor 
claims  to  have  developed  an  electrical  horse-power  for  every  five 
feet  of  gas  consumed.  It  will  be  interesting  to  observe  the  progress 
of  this  invention,  and,  whether  it  is  successful  or  not,  it  may  point 
the  way  for  a  commercial  machine  of  some  sort  that  shall  give  the 
Avorld  electricity  direct  from  coal. 

The  Washington  Monument  is  justly  regarded  as  a  remarkable 
construction  of  stone,  but  there  exists  in  Halsbrucke,  Germany,  a 
factory  chimney  that  rivals  it  in  height,  and  is  certainly  more 
remarkable  in  that  it  is  a  purely  commercial  structure.  It  is  460  feet 
in  height,  and  being  located  on  high  ground  is  a  conspicuous  object. 
The  most  peculiar  feature  of  its  construction  is  that  it  is  budt  of 
"hollow  bricks,  specially  formed,  so  that  the  outer  ends  of  the  bricks 
are  slightly  broader  than  the  inner  ends,   thus  producing  perfect 

39 


6lo  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

joints.  No  one  would  think  of  building  such  a  chimney  in  America 
of  anything  but  steel,  and  it  reflects  great  credit  upon  the  German 
engineers  in  charge  that  they  were  able  to  produce  so  large  a  struc- 
ture of  so  light  a  material  as  hollow  brick.  For  use  in  a  chimney, 
brick  is  better  than  steel,  as  the  thicker  walls  tend  to  conserve  the 
heat,  thus  producing  a  better  draft. 

Probably  the  largest  smoke-stack  in  America  is  that  of  the 
Washoe  Copper  Company,  at  Anaconda,  Montana.  It  is  300  feet 
high,  and  stands  on  a  hill  427  feet  above  the  works,  four  enormous 
flues  leading  from  the  furnaces  to  the  stack  proper.  The  real  height 
is  therefore  ^2^  feet,  while  the  inside  diameter  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  stack  is  31^/^  feet.  The  material  is  a  cement-mortar  capped 
with  iron.     The  base  is  square,  but  the  structure  proper  is  annular. 


Fleet  ol   lc(;-\aclUS. 

The  ice-boat  is  a  novelty  to  those  who  have  never  had  the 
opportunity  of  coming  in  contact  with  these  flyers  over  the  frozen 
water.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  they  can  actually  travel  faster 
than  the  wind  that  drives  them  when  the  breeze  is  at  the  proper  angle^ 
the  reason  being  that  the  ice-boat  forges  ahead  in  a  manner  that 
enables  it  to  catch  new  wind  continuously.  The  making  of  a  mile 
in  thirty  or  forty  seconds  in  one  of  these  boats  is  not  so  unusual  an 
occurrence,  and  the  sport  is  not  as  dangerous  as  this  speed  suggests, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  in  case  of  a  spill  the  boatmen  simply  slide 
along  the  ice.  The  illustration  shows  a  fleet  of  modern  ice-boats. 
It  will  be  noted  that  the  hull  is  simply  a  cross  of  stout  timbers 
mounted  on  long  skates  or  runners,  and  bearing  a  mast,  the  whole 
framework  being  strengthened  with  steel  wires. 


ODD    AND    CURIOUS    INDUSTRIES    AND    MECHANISMS     6ll 

The  development  of  mechanisms  for  fighting  fire  have  resulted 
in  many  curious  contrivances.    One  of  these  is  the  tall  ladder  shown 


Courtesy  Popular  Mechanics. 

A  Fire-Ladder. 


in  the  illustration,  whose  base  is  connected  with  a  heavy  truck,  and 
which  can  be  stretched  out  like  a  telescope  to  a  remarkable  height. 


6l2 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


These  ladders  save  many  lives,  enabling  the  firemen  to  reach  com- 
paratively high  floors  with  great  quickness.  Life-saving  mechanisms 
for  coast  service  have  also  reached  a  high  state  of  development.  An 
equipment  is  illustrated  on  page  606. 

The  electric  piano  is  not  understood  by  many.  It  may  be  oper- 
ated by  a  small  storage  battery  or  by  connection  with  electric-light 
wires.  A  long  cylinder  is  placed  low  down  under  the  key-board 
of  the  piano,  and  a  series  of  brake-shoes  located  close  to  the  cylinder 
are  so  connected  with  the  keys  that  when  a  shoe  is  lifted  by  contact 
with  the  cylinder  the  appropriate  key  is  depressed.    To  play  a  given 


A  Comptomeler. 

piece  of  music  there  is  used  a  prepared  sheet  of  paper  having  holes 
representing  the  notes ;  this  paper,  in  the  form  of  a  strip,  is  unrolled 
and  moved  along  between  points  where  electric  connections  can  be 
made  whenever  a  hole  in  the  paper  is  presented.  As  the  paper  travels 
along  the  holes  produce  electric  contacts,  and  when  a  contact  affects 
a  certain  brake-shoe  it  is  brought  into  position  to  be  lifted  by  the 
cylinder.  Thus  the  piano  is  made  to  render  any  piece  of  music  for 
which  the  perforated  paper  strips  are  prepared. 

The  machines  used  for  cancelling  letters  are  most  interesting. 
The  illustration  shows  the  Pikerdike  machine,  used  in  many  large 


ii%','  '.'**^^*'>5^''TT' 


Pikcidike  Letter-Cancelling  Machine. 
I,  Series  of  machines  actuated  by  one  motor;  2,  mechanism  of  the  apparatus;  3,  detail  of  the 
machine  for  cancelling  and  thiowing  out  a  letter  ;  4,  passage  of  a  letter  under  the  cancel  ling-roller. 


6i4 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


post-offices,  both  in  America  and  abroad.  The  letters  are  fed  into 
the  slot  at  the  right  of  the  machine,  and  are  carried  between  belts 
past  the  cancelling-wheel,  after  which  the  letter  is  thrown  out. 
The  protective  devices  are  such  that  it  is  practically  impossible  for 
two  letters  to  go  through  together.  With  this  machine  letters  are 
cancelled  at  the  rate  of  175  or  more  a  minute.  The  mechanism  is 
well  shown  in  the  accompanying  drawing. 

Calculating  machines  are  in  extensive  use.  The  Census  Bureau 
employs  a  series  of  special  machines  devised  for  simplifying  the 
work  of  calculating  results  from  the  returns  received.  Astronomical 
calculations  are  largely  made  on  machines.     For  business  purposes. 


Mechanism  of  a  Fare-Registering  Machine. 

such  machines  as  the  comptometer,  made  by  Felt  &  Tarrant,  are 
widely  used.  These  perform  the  ordinary  arithmetical  calculations, 
and  save  a  great  deal  of  time  in  banking-houses  and  similar  insti- 
tutions. 

The  basic  principles  of  most  calculating-machines  is  similar  to 
that  of  the  fare-register,  a  view  of  whose  interior  is  given  here, 
because  it  shows  the  very  simplest  form  of  mechanical  calculation — 
addition.  Every  time  the  conductor  rings  up  a  fare  the  right-hand 
figure-wheel  turns  one-tenth  of  its  circumference,  and  when  it  has 
made  an  entire  turn,  it  trips  the  next  wheel,  representing  the  tens, 
which  registers  a  higher  figure. 

Until  about  fifteen  years  ago  the  builders  of  heavy  machinery 


ODD    AND    CURIOUS    INDUSTRIES    AND    MECHANISMS     615 

in  this  country  felt  themselves  in  great  need  of  suitable  machinery 
for  handling  heavy  weights  The  old-fashioned  jib-cranes  were 
generally  used,  principally  because  steam-power  could  readily  be 
applied  directly  to  them.  Cranes  of  this  type  can,  however,  serve 
only  a  small  floor-space,  and,  measured  by  that  standard,  were  costly. 
Moreover,  buildings  containing  jib-cranes  of  large  capacity  were 
necessarily  strongly  built  to  resist  the  heavy  side  strains  brought 
upon  them,  and  were  correspondingly  expensive.  The  overhead 
travelling  cranes  then  in  use  were  free  from  these  objections,  but 
possessed  so  many  serious  defects  as  to  make  them  less  popular. 
For  indoor  work  it  was  impracticable  to  apply  steam-power  directly 
to  them.  Hydraulic  cranes  required  the  installation  of  expensive 
pumping-plants,  accumulators,  and  motors.  They  were  operated  by 
means  of  numerous  cables,  running  over  a  multiplicity  of  sheaves. 
They  were  slow  and  inefficient  and  never  were  largely  used. 

The  mechanically  driven  cranes  were  of  two  types — one  re- 
ceiving power  from  a  continuously  running  rope,  the  other  driven 
by  a  square  shaft.  In  both  cases  the  power  was  subdivided  and  dis- 
tributed by  means  of  friction  clutches.  Changes  of  speed  and  of 
direction  of  movement  were  secured  by  the  same  means.  It  was 
necessary  to  use  a  very  large  number  of  gears.  These  cranes  were 
costly.  The  expense  of  maintenance  was  large,  while  the  speeds 
and  efficiency  were  very  slow.  These  defects  prevented  overhead 
travelling  cranes  from  coming  into  general  use  for  some  years. 

A  well-known  writer  on  mechanical  subjects  once  stated  that 
the  multi-motor  electric  travelling  crane,  invented  and  developed  by 
Mr.  Shaw,  was  the  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  machine-build- 
ing industry  that  had  been  made  in  many  years,  and  that  its  intro- 
duction had  revolutionized  the  business  of  building  heavy  machinery. 

The  Shaw  Electric  Crane  Company,  of  Muskegon,  Michigan, 
have  made  the  development  and  improvement  of  the  electric  travel- 
ling crane  and  its  adaptation  to  new  lines  of  work  their  principal 
aim. 

Their  cranes  are  to  be  found  in  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union, 
and  in  almost  every  civilized  country  on  the  globe.  English, 
French,  German,  and  Russian  builders  have  patterned  after  the 
Shaw  cranes. 

The  accompanying  illustration  shows  two  single  trolley  cranes 
in  the  new  locomotive  repair  shop  of  the  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  Chi- 
cago and  St.  Louis  Railroad  at  Columbus,  Ohio.  The  capacity  of 
the  main  hoist  is  seventy-five  tons.  Each  trolley  carries  two 
auxiliary  hoists  of  ten  tons'  capacity.     The  span  of  the  cranes  is 


ODD    AND    CURIOUS    INDUSTRIES    AND    MECHANISMS      617 

seventy-six  feet  four  inches.  They  are  driven  by  direct  current  at 
250  volts.  These  cranes  fairly  represent  the  standard  type  of 
heavy  electric  cranes.  The  girders  are  of  the  double  web  or  box 
section  type.  There  are  four  wheels  under  each  end  of  the  crane. 
The  motors  are  slow  speed,  have  large  shafts  and  commutators, 
and  machine-formed  coils.  The  controllers  are  fire-proof,  mica 
being  the  only  insulating  material  used  that  is  exposed  to  heat. 
They  are  all  constructed  so  that  thorough  ventilation  and  large 
heat-radiating  capacity  are  secured. 


MINOR    MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES 

Lead-Pencil  Manufacture 

The  ordinary  lead-pencil  is  a  core  of  graphite  and  clay  enclosed 
in  a  wooden  case.  Graphite  is  a  substance  familiarly  known  in  a 
common  form  of  stove-blacking,  and  also  sold  in  sticks  as  a  lubri- 
cant for  bicycle  chains.  The  wood  used  is  principally  cedar,  and 
requires   to   be   straight-grained,    comparatively   soft,    and   capable 


Courtesy  Scientific  American. 


View  in  Lead-Pencil  Factory. 


of  taking  a  polish.  The  best  wood  for  the  purpose  is  grown  in 
Florida  and  Alabama,  the  well-known  Faber  pencils  being  manu- 
factured at  Cedar  Keys,  Florida,  where  the  desired  wood  is  found 
in  abundance.  In  manufacture  the  wood  is  first  cut  into  slats  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  thick  and  two  and  a  half  by  seven  in  the  other 
dimensions.  These  slats  are  thoroughly  dried,  after  which  they  are 
passed  through  a  grooving-machine  that  cuts  a  row  of  grooves  in 
one  face.  The  leads  being  laid  into  these  grooves,  a  similar  grooved 
slat  is  surfaced  with  glue  and  laid  on  top,  so  that  the  two  slats  unite 
and  require  only  to  be  cut  up  to  form  a  series  of  lead-pencils. 

This  cutting  is  done  in  a  moulding-machine,  which  delivers 

6i8 


MINOR    MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES  619 

the  pencils  either  round  or  hexagon,  according  as  it  is  set.  The 
pencils  next  go  to  sand-papering  machines,  where  they  are  smoothed, 
after  which  they  are  stained  or  colored  by  a  machine  that  feeds  them 
through  small  apertures,  where  they  receive  a  thin  coat  of  varnish  in 
passing.  On  coming  out  of  this  machine  they  are  carried  slowly  on 
a  long  belt  in  order  to  give  them  time  to  dry.  To  produce  a  finely- 
finished  and  highly-polished  pencil  it  is  necessary  to  pass  them 
through  this  varnishing-machine  several  times,  thus  securing  an 
enamel  effect.  The  highest-priced  pencils  are  hand-polished,  a  work 
that  requires  considerable  experience. 

The  stamping  of  the  pencil  is  done  in  a  press,  gold-leaf  being 
used  for  the  best  pencils.  In  this  work  the  steel  die  is  heated  and 
the  gold-leaf  cut  into  narrow  strips,  which  are  fed  into  the  press 
as  the  stamp  is  applied.  The  heat  of  the  die  causes  the  gold-leaf  to 
adhere  to  the  pencil,  the  surplus  leaf  being  brushed  off  to  be  remade 
into  gold-leaf. 

The  graphite  used  to  form  the  leads  is  mined  in  Mexico,  East- 
ern Siberia,  Bohemia,  and  Ceylon.  It  requires  to  be  broken  up  and 
ground,  and  mixed  with  clay  in  order  to  make  a  hard  pencil;  the 
more  clay  used  the  harder  is  the  pencil.  The  hardness  is  somewhat 
dependent,  also,  upon  the  compressing  of  the  lead  in  forming  it 
into  strips  for  use  in  the  pencil.  This  is  done  by  forcing  the  plastic 
mixture  of  graphite  and  clay  through  holes  formed  in  hard  mineral 
dies  under  a  heavy  hydraulic  pressure.  The  dies  are  mostly  cut 
from  sapphires  or  emeralds,  and  the  lead  comes  through  looking 
very  much  like  a  wire,  and  is  cut  into  the  proper  lengths. 

The  rubber  used  in  the  heads  of  pencils  is  sometimes  glued  into 
a  hollow  in  the  end,  and  sometimes  attached  by  means  of  a  small 
metal  ferrule. 

Carpet  Manufacture 

In  1800  most  of  the  carpets  made  in  the  United  States  were 
woven  with  rags  on  the  old-fashioned  hand-loom.  The  manufacture 
of  Axminster  carpets  was  begun  in  Philadelphia  as  early  as  1791 
by  W.  P.  Sprague,  and  carpet-making  has  been  one  of  the  more 
important  industries  of  that  city  ever  since.  The  Sprague  carpet 
factory  is  especially  noteworthy  as  being  the  first  American  industry 
to  be  protected  by  a  tariff.  Congress  passing  in  that  year  an  act 
placing  a  duty  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  upon  imported  carpets,  it 
being  stipulated  that  the  money  was  to  be  used  to  encourage  wool- 
growing. 


620  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

Carpets  are  woven  much  as  cloth,  except  that  a  pattern  is  always 
required,  and  usually  a  pile  or  raised  portion  of  the  fabric.  To 
understand  the  method  of  interweaving  the  strands,  the  reader  is 
referred  to  the  chapter  titled  "  Progress  in  Textile  Manufactures," 
where  is  explained  the  principle  of  the  shuttle  operating  to  form 
the  web.  The  Jacquard  pattern-card  attachment  serves  to  vary  the 
position  of  the  threads,  thus  producing  a  pattern. 

The  pile  of  a  carpet  is  formed  by  looping  the  strands  over  a 
wire,  and  if  the  loops  are  left  in,  it  is  called  uncut  pile,  or,  if  cut,  it 
is  cut  pile,  the  latter  giving  a  surface  to  the  carpet  full  of  exposed 
ends  of  a  soft  and  velvety  appearance. 

The  manufacture  of  ingrain  carpets  was  begun  early  in  the 
nineteenth  century  in  Frederick  County,  Maryland,  hand-looms 
being  used.  A  small  factory  was  also  started  in  Medway,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1825,  by  Alexander  Wright,  who  brought  hand-looms 
from  Scotland  for  the  purpose.  This  was  the  basis  of  the  Lowell 
industry,  the  mill  soon  passing  into  the  hands  of  the  Lowell  Manu- 
facturing Company. 

By  1844  carpet  manufactories  were  established  at  six  other 
places  in  the  United  States,  and  it  was  in  this  year  that  Erastus  B. 
Bigelow,  of  Boston,  adapted  the  power-loom  to  the  weaving  of 
ingrain  carpets,  becoming  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  carpet  world, 
so  much  so  that  it  is  claimed  for  him  that  he  did  more  than  any 
other  one  man  to  develop  the  carpet  industry  of  the  world.  About 
1850  he  patented  the  power-loom  with  Jacquard  attachment  for 
weaving  Brussels  and  Wilton  carpets.  Later  he  developed  the 
weaving  of  tapestry  Brussels  and  tapestry  velvet;  in  fact,  he  was 
more  or  less  responsible  for  a  majority  of  the  important  improve- 
ments in  carpet-weaving  machinery  during  his  time.  He  estab- 
lished the  Bigelow  Carpet  Company,  and  sold  his  loom  for  making 
Brussels  and  Wilton  carpets  to  English  manufacturers  for  a  large 
sum. 

An  important  improvement  in  power-looms  for  making  Ax- 
minsters  and  Moquettes  was  introduced  in  1867  by  Alexander  Smith 
and  Halcyon  Skinner,  of  Yonkers,  New  York.  This  machine  in- 
creased the  product  to  eleven  yards  a  day,  and  was  controlled  for 
many  years  by  the  A.  Smith  &  Sons  Carpet  Company,  which  de- 
veloped an  enormous  business.  Other  pioneer  inventors  of  carpet 
machinery  were  Duckworth,  Murkland,  and  Crompton. 

About  1885  the  power-loom  was  adapted  to  the  manufacture 
of  Smyrna  carpets  and  rugs,  which  resulted  in  a  largely  increased 
output. 


MINOR    MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES  621 

In  1900  there  were  133  carpet  factories  in  the  United  States, 
having  a  total  capital  of  nearly  $45,000,000,  and  giving  employment 
to  nearly  15,000  persons;  the  number  of  looms  in  use  was  12,511, 
and  the  annual  value  of  products  over  $48,000,000.  The  industry 
is  nearly  ten  times  as  great  as  it  was  in  1850,  and  is  double  what 
it  was  in  1875,  but  during  the  last  ten  years  its  growth  has  been 
very  moderate.  There  has  been  a  tendency  towards  combination, 
the  number  of  firms  engaged  in  the  industry  having  steadily  de- 
creased since  1870. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  drawback  to  the  manufacture  of  carpets 
in  the  United  States  is  the  fact  that  nearly  all  the  wool  is  imported, 
the  domestic  wool,  which  constituted  four  per  cent,  of  the  quantity 
used  in  1890,  having  fallen  off  to  the  insignificant  figure  of  one- 
fifth  of  one  per  cent,  in  1900.  Very  little  cotton  is  used,  but  nearly 
one-half  of  the  material  employed  is  linen,  jute  and  other  yarns. 

By  far  the  largest  quantity  of  carpet  manufactured  in  1900 
was  two-ply  ingrain,  of  which  there  were  37,000,000  yards  pro- 
duced; the  tapestry  and  Brussels  amounted  to  12,000,000  running 
yards,  the  tapestry  velvet  to  nearly  6,000,000  running  yards,  while 
the  Axminster,  Wilton,  and  body  Brussels  come  next  in  order.  In 
addition  to  the  carpets  named,  9,000,000  square  yards  of  rugs  were 
manufactured,  this  portion  of  the  industry  showing  very  marked 
gains  in  the  past  dozen  years.  Smyrna  rugs  are  the  favorites,  being 
the  lowest  in  price  after  ingrain.  The  census  figures  also  show 
that  Wiltons,  Axminsters,  and  Moquettes  have  increased  in  use  at 
the  expense  of  tapestry  Brussels. 

The  centres  of  the  carpet  industry  of  the  United  States  are  in 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey,  about 
three-eighths  of  the  total  capital  being  invested  in  Philadelphia  and 
its  suburbs. 

Laundry  Machinery 

The  modern  laundry  involves  the  use  of  considerable  up-to-date 
machinery.  No  old-fashioned  wash-boiler,  wash-board,  or  ironing- 
board  has  a  place  in  such  an  establishment.  The  washing  is  done 
in  washing-machines,  of  which  there  are  a  great  variety,  the  most 
popular  form  having  two  cylinders,  one  inside  the  other.  The 
clothes  are  put  into  the  inner  cylinder  (which  is  perforated)  together 
with  powdered  soap,  and  too  often  some  strong  dirt-destroying 
chemical,  and  closed  in,  after  which  steam,  or  hot  water  and  steam. 
are  admitted  to  the  outer  cylinder.  The  inner  cylinder  is  then  turned 
first  in  one  direction  and  then  in  the  other,  so  that  the  clothes  receive 


622 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


a  thorough  shaking,  twisting  and  rinsing.  After  a  time  the  water 
is  run  off,  the  dirty  water  being  forced  out  by  centrifugal  force.  A 
second  appHcation  of  hot  water  and  then  of  cold  water  (which  latter 
contains  the  bluing)  completes  the  washing  process. 

For  drying  the  clothes  the  centrifugal  wringer  is  commonly 
employed.  The  clothes  are  placed  in  great  baskets  of  tinned  copper 
and  rotated  at  a  speed  of  perhaps  eight  to  eighteen  times  a  second. 
By  this  means  the  moisture  is  literally  thrown  out,  and  the  clothes 
are  almost  completely  dried  in  a  few  minutes.  After  being  thus 
dried,  the  clothes  are  found  to  be  very  tightly  packed  against  the 
sides  of  the  basket  of  the  machine,  and  mechanism  is  usually  applied 


Placing  Clothing  in  the  Washer. 


to  loosen  them  slowly,  so  that  they  can  be  taken  out  easily  without 
danger  of  being  torn. 

Steam-drying  closets  are  used  for  such  clothes  as  it  is  desired 
to  render  quite  dry,  these  being  treated  with  steam-coils  and  con- 
taining numerous  compartments  for  the  clothes.  The  temperature 
is  kept  so  high  in  some  of  these  drying-rooms  that  the  employees 
cannot  endure  it,  hence  mechanism  has  been  devised  by  which  the 
clothes  can  be  passed  in  and  taken  out  from  the  outside  of  the  room. 

Several  forms  of  machines  are  made  for  starching,  that  used 
for  collars  and  cuffs  having  a  wheel  which  dips  the  article  clear 
down  into  the  starch,  holding  it  under  for  a  short  time.     For  larger 


MINOR    MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES 


623 


articles  there  are  special  machines  that  work  the  starch  thoroughly 
into  the  material. 

For  dampening  articles  before  ironing  a  variety  of  machines 
are  in  use,  being  differently  designed  for  the  different  articles,  as 
one  for  shirts,  another  for  collars  and  cuffs,  etc.  In  these  the  clothes 
are  subjected  to  a  slight  sprinkling,  after  which  they  are  ready  for 
the  ironer.  The  most  common  form  of  collar-and-cuff  ironer  has  a 
cloth-covered  cylinder,  which  is  heated  and  rolled  back  and  forth 
over  a  table  that  is  likewise  heated,  the  ironing  being  accomplished 
by  laying  the  collars  and  cuffs  flat  on  the  table  and  allowing  the 
roller  to  pass  over  them.     There  is  one  of  these  machines  in  Troy, 


The  Drying  Closets  of  a  Modern  Laundry. 

New  York,  which  has  a  capacity  of  about  15,000  pieces  a  day. 
Another  common  form  of  ironer  passes  the  goods  between  pairs 
of  rollers.  Turn-over  collars  require  a  special  machine,  and  there 
are  likewise  special  machines  for  yokes,  sleeves  and  wrist-bands. 


Paints  and  Varnishes- 


The  manufacture  of  linseed  oil  was  begun  in  New  York  in 
171 5,  and  three  years  later  a  small  factory  was  established  in  Con- 
necticut. In  these  and  other  early  factories  wind-  or  water-power 
was  commonly  used  for  crushing  the  flaxseed,  and  as  late  as  1790 
an  old  windmill  stood  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  north  of  the  present 
New  York  City  Hall,  grinding  flaxseed  for  the  making  of  oil  for 
the  house-painters  of  that  period.     Before   1800  the  use  of  paint 


624  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

was  regarded  as  a  luxury;  in  fact,  the  early  Puritans  regarded  it 
as  a  sin  to  apply  paint  to  their  dwellings,  this  being  in  their  esti- 
mation an  ungodly  proceeding.  But  by  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  it  became  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  paint 
served  to  preserve  wood  and  that  its  use  was  therefore  a  real 
economy. 

The  manufacture  of  white-lead  paint  was  begun  in  Philadel- 
phia in  1804  by  Samuel  Wetherill.  He  succeeded  in  making  as 
good  white  and  red  lead  as  had  been  previously  imported,  and 
established  a  considerable  trade.  The  making  of  colors  for  use  with 
lead  paints  was  begun  by  Anthony  Tiemann  in  1806  or  1807,  in 
Philadelphia,  and  b}^  1811  he  was  manufacturing  twenty-two  dis- 
tinct colors.  At  the  same  date  there  were  started  three  red-lead 
factories  in  Pittsburg.  Not  long  after  chromic  iron  was  discovered 
in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  this  gave  great  impetus  to 
the  grinding  of  paint. 

The  first  manufacturer  of  varnish  of  whom  there  is  any  record 
in  this  country  was  P.  D.  Smith  wdio  had  a  place  on  the  Bowery  in 
New  York  in  1828.  He  w^as  not  very  successful,  but  the  concern 
of  Tilden  &  Hurlburt,  which  started  in  1830,  did  a  large  business 
for  many  years,  importing  gum  copal  from  Africa,  and  manufac- 
turing the  varnish  in  New  York,  and  establishing  sales  not  only 
in  the  United  States,  but  to  a  considerable  extent  in  South  America. 

About  1850  deposits  of  zinc  were  uncovered  and  worked  in 
New  Jersey,  the  zinc  oxide  being  secured  in  the  form  of  a  white 
powder,  which  was  found  to  be  an  excellent  substitute  for  white 
lead,  and  came  into  extensive  use  in  mixing  paints.  During  recent 
years  another  substitute  for  white  lead  has  been  manufactured 
from  fluorspar. 

The  manufacture  of  ready-mixed  paints  was  wholly  an  Ameri- 
can idea,  and  began  in  1852,  coming  rapidly  into  public  favor,  having 
now^  been  established  for  many  years  as  most  satisfactory  for  house 
paints. 

The  principle  by  which  paint  serves  to  protect  wood  or  other 
porous  material  from  decay  or  other  injury  consequent  to  exposure 
to  the  weather  is  twofold.  The  oil  is  more  or  less  absorbed,  tend- 
ing to  prevent  the  entrance  of  moisture  into  the  pores  of  the  wood. 
The  lead  or  other  mineral  in  solution  in  the  oil  as  it  dries  also  forms 
a  thin  metallic  covering  that  keeps  out  the  air,  and  so  prevents  rust 
or  oxidation,  where  used  to  protect  ferric  structures. 

In  1873  there  was  organized  the  first  of  a  series  of  paint,  oil, 
and  varnish  clubs,  which  shortly  became  established  in  all  the  larger 


MINOR    MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES  625 

cities  of  the  United  States.  These  clubs  take  cognizance  of  mat- 
ters of  general  interest  in  the  trade,  and  have  been  of  material  value 
in  many  ways.  During  recent  years  there  has  been  a  tendency  to 
concentration  of  interests,  and  the  National  Lead  Company  was 
formed  with  a  capital  of  $30,000,000,  this  concern  controlling  the 
greatest  portion  of  the  output  of  white  lead,  while  the  National  Lin- 
seed-Oil Company,  capitalized  at  $18,000,000,  controls  the  bulk  of 
that  branch  of  the  trade. 


The  Wall-Paper  Industry 

The  manufacture  of  wall  paper  began  in  the  United  States  in 
1790,  when  the  Howell  factory  was  established  at  Albany.  This 
was  later  removed  to  New  York  and  then  Baltimore,  and  in  1820 
located  in  Philadelphia,  where  it  occupies  a  leading  position  in  the 
industry.  The  first  wall-paper  printing-machine  used  in  this  country 
was  imported  by  the  Howells  in  1844  from  England,  this  being  a 
one-color  machine.  It  was  followed  by  a  six-color  machine  in  1846, 
and  some  years  later  the  Waldron  factory  in  New  Brunswick  began 
the  manufacture  of  wall-paper  machinery  for  American  firms. 

There  are  now  about  forty  factories  in  the  United  States,  manu- 
facturing about  $15,000,000  worth  of  wall  paper  annually,  which 
goes  to  enrich  the  interior  walls  of,  dwellings.  The  trade  demands 
a  new  line  of  designs  every  year,  and  the  production  of  these  entails 
a  large  part  of  the  expense  of  conducting  the  business. 

The  printing-machine  employed  since  1870  operates  on  what 
is  known  as  the  continuous  system.  The  paper  in  the  form  of  a  roll 
first  passes  through  a  grounding-machine,  that  imparts  the  body  tint 
to  its  surface.  It  then  goes  to  a  hot-box  or  drying  apparatus,  con- 
tinuing to  the  color-printing  machine,  where  it  passes  over  a  large 
cylinder  set  centrally  between  a  series  of  small  cylinders,  each  of 
the  smaller  cylinders  printing  a  portion  of  the  design  in  its  own 
color.  Since  1882  it  has  been  found  practical  to  print  bronze  colors 
on  wall  paper,  the  liquid  bronzes  being  mixed  with  potato  starch, 
which  does  not  impair  the  lustre,  as  did  every  adhesive  material 
previously  tried.  In  this  manner  are  produced  the  many  beautiful 
designs  which  vie  with  the  art  of  the  lithographer  and  other  color 
printers. 

The  common-sized  roll  of  wall  paper  is  twenty-four  feet  long 
and  twenty-two  inches  wide,  but  hand-printed  paper  is  made  thirty 
inches  wide.    There  are  twelve  rolls  in  a  "  piece,"  twenty-four  rolls 

40 


626  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

in  a  "  lot,"  and  fifty  rolls  in  a  "  bundle."  The  designs  for  machine- 
made  wall  paper  are  produced  on  cylinders,  but  for  hand-printing 
the  designs  are  engraved  on  flat  blocks  of  maple  wood.  These 
blocks  are  built  up  of  four  layers,  in  order  to  prevent  warping  or 
distortion  of  form  in  the  block.  The  hand-printed  paper  is  the  most 
ornamental,  and  sometimes  includes  sixteen  or  eighteen  colors  and 
printings,  and  of  course  a  block  has  to  be  engraved  for  each  color. 
In  hand-printing  the  printer  operates  on  a  roll  of  paper,  his  printing- 
block  being  suspended  above  by  springs.  Small  dots  on  the  margin 
of  the  paper  guide  him  in  bringing  the  block  to  the  proper  point; 
and  after  he  has  impressed  the  design  on  and  formed  a  complete 
pattern,  he  repeats  it  on  the  next  section  of  the  roll,  making  the 
joints  with  marvellous  accuracy.  The  hand-printed  papers  run  a 
great  deal  to  ornamentation  with  colored  flock  and  gold  bronze. 
This  flock  is  waste  from  the  silk-mill — beautifully  colored  little 
bits  of  silk  chopped  up  fine,  and  made  to  adhere  to  the  design  printed 
in  a  varnishy  ink,  giving  a  raised  velvety  effect  that  is  much  ad- 
mired, and  which  cannot  be  successfully  imitated  by  any  machine- 
printing. 

Elevators 

The  increasing  number  of  tall  steel  buildings  has  called  for 
considerable  improvements  in  the  construction  and  arrangement  of 
elevators.  These  are  now  made  to  travel  at  express  speeds,  and  also 
to  carry  extremely  heavy  loads,  while  the  liability  to  accident  is 
very  slight.  The  chief  protection  against  the  danger  of  a  long  fall 
has  been  obtained  by  the  placing  of  an  air-pocket  at  the  foot  of  the 
elevator-shaft.  This  air-pocket  is  nothing  but  a  strong,  steel,  air- 
tight box,  open  at  the  top,  with  a  space  just  large  enough  to  admit 
the  elevator.  Should  the  elevator  fall  into  the  pocket  it  is  cushioned 
by  the  air,  whose  elasticity  produces  the  most  perfect  spring  known 
to  mechanics.  An  experiment  made  at  the  Empire  Building,  corner 
of  Broadway  and  Rector  Streets,  New  York,  a  few  years  since, 
proved  how  perfect  a  safeguard  is  a  large  air-pocket.  One  of  the 
elevators,  weighing  two  thousand  pounds,  was  dropped  from  the 
twentieth  story  to  note  the  effect.  A  number  of  eggs  and  incan- 
descent-light bulbs  were  placed  on  the  floor  of  the  elevator,  and  not 
one  of  them  was  broken  by  the  shock,  the  elevator  bounding  on  the 
air  in  the  "  springiest"  fashion.  This  experiment  was  outdone  at 
the  Philadelphia  City  Hall  later,  where  the  tower  elevator,  weighing 
2400  pounds,  was  dropped  400  feet  into  the  thirty-five  foot  air- 


MINOR    MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES 


627 


pocket  to  note  the  result.     In  addition  to  electric-light  bulbs  and 
eggs,  six  rats  were  given  a  free  ride.    All  landed  safely. 

Three  types  of  elevators  are  in  common  use,  known  as  the 
drum,  hydraulic  and  screw.  The  drum  is  the  commonest,  this 
having  a  large  drum  that  coils  and  uncoils  the  supporting  wire-rope. 
Electric  motors  are  commonly  used  to  furnish  the  power,  being  con- 
nected with  the  drums  by  worm-gearing.  The  hydraulic  elevator 
operates  with  a  piston  working  in  a  long  cylinder,  the  water  being 
pumped  from  one  end  of  the  cylinder  to  the  other,  thus  moving  the 
piston  that  controls  the  rope  mechanism.     Though  an  ideal  system, 


Mechanism  of  a  Freight  Elevator. 

it  is  not  suited  to  great  heights,  because  this  requires  too  long  a 
cylinder,  and  in  ordinary  practice  it  is  used  mostly  for  sidewalk 
elevators. 

The  screw-mechanism  as  now  made  is  very  ingenious,  a  long, 
heavy,  horizontal  screw  being  fitted  with  ball-bearings  on  the 
threads,  the  balls  bearing  against  and  pushing  along  a  large  sheave 
or  nut,  that  is  moved  sideways  and  geared  to  the  elevator  ropes, 
usually  in  the  ratio  of  one  to  eight. 

Freight  elevators  are  commonly  manufactured  as  shown  in 
the  illustration,  to  drive  with  an  ordinary  electric  motor  and  belt 
pow^;    they  are  protected  against  falling  by  a  system  of  catches, 


628 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


which  is  set  in  operation  by  the  releasing  of  a  powerful  spring  if  the 
supporting  rope  breaks. 


Courtesy  Morse,  Williams  Company. 

A  Vertical  Cylinder  Hydraulic  Elevator. 


Controllers  or  speed  governors  are  used  in  operating  elevators, 
being  usually  fitted  with  a  wheel  or  a  lever  for  the  use  of  the  elevator- 
man.     The  best  of  these  are  so  made  that  should  the  car  attain  an 


MINOR   MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES 


629 


undue  speed  in  descending  they  act  directly  on  the  safety  device  to 
bring  the  car  to  a  stop. 

The  "  boyless"  elevator  is  the  latest  thing  for  apartment-houses, 
hotels,  etc.  It  operates  by  push-buttons.  If  a  man  on  the  fourth 
floor  wants  to  go  to  the  eighth,  he  simply  pushes  the  button  and 
M^aits.  The  elevator  comes  to  his  floor,  stops,  and  the  door  opens 
automatically.  He  steps  in,  and  pushes  elevator-button  No.  8,  and 
the  elevator  takes  him  there  and  stops  again,  opening  the  door.  If 
some  one  on  floor  No.  6  has  pushed  his  button  just  after  the  fourth- 
floor  man  got  on,  the  elevator  will  stop  and  take  him  in  on  the  way. 
This  elevator  does  everything  an  elevator-boy  can  do  except  take 
tips  or  "  sass"  the  passengers. 


The  Escalator. 

A,  Top  of  Escalator,  showing  the  shear  that  intimates  to  the  passenger,  "  Time  to  get  off;"  B, 
engineer's  plan,  showing  mechanical  operation  ;  C,  iront  view,  showing  moving  stairs  and  the  hand- 
rail ;  h,  h,  h,  h,  rubber  hand-rail,  moving  in  unison  with  the  stairs. 


The  escalator,  or  travelling  stairway,  is  a  new  form  of  elevator. 
As  constructed  for  the  "  L"  road  in  New  York  City,  the  steps  are 
made  to  operate  as  links  of  an  endless  chain,  and  a  person  may  walk 
up  the  stairs  in  the  ordinary  way  or  be  carried  upward  by  the  travel 
of  the  steps.  The  best  form  is  that  shown  in  the  illustration,  which 
is  used  at  Twenty-third  Street  and  Sixth  Avenue,  New  York. 
These  moving  stairs  are  so  satisfactory  that  they  are  being  adopted 
by  many  large  department  stores. 


630 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAl.    PROGRESS 


Telpherage  and  Aerial  Transportation. 


An  elevated  wire  rope  or  rail  as  a  trackway  for  transportation 
is  an  old  device  familiar  to  mechanics,  but  not  so  well  known  to  the 
general  public,  because  such  constructions  are  most  frequently  erected 
in  out-of-the-way  places,  where  none  penetrate  but  those  whose  work 
or  business  interests  require  it.  In  mining  regions,  where  a  mine  is 
opened,  say  on  a  hillside,  in  a  new  country  devoid  of  roads,  the  use 


^  'pA{a>f>j>'yif^^'f-^^"f^-. 


Courtesy  United  Telpherage  CuiiiiiauN . 

Telpherage  System  at  a  Gas-Works. 

of  a  wire  ropeway,  to  which  a  car  or  other  carrying  device  can  be 
attached,  is  quite  common  for  transporting  things  down  hill  by 
gravity,  and  up  hill  by  some  light  power,  or  perhaps  by  the  pull  of 
heavier  loads  coming  down.  The  word  telpherage  is  more  usually 
employed  to  designate  aerial  railways  operated  electrically,  especially 
those  in  which  there  are  cars  operated  by  independent  electric  motors, 
and  running  along  a  stout  wire  or  rail  supported  by  a  superstructure. 
Two  of  these  are  illustrated  herewith,  furnishing  a  very  cheap  and 
easy  means  of  conveying  goods  from  a  factory  to  be  loaded  on  cars, 
or  from  one  portion  of  a  manufacturing  plant  to  another. 

For  handling  coal,  automatic  railways  are  largely  utilized,  the 
coal  being  transported  entirely  without  hand  labor.  Hoisting  ma- 
chines take  the  coal  direct  from  a  vessel's  hold  to  the  cars  of  a  light 


MINOR   MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES 


631 


elevated  railway,  and  these  are  run  along  (often  by  gravity)  and 
dumped  at  any  desired  point  on  the  route,  either  into  storage  bins 
or  into  coal-cars  for  a  further  journey. 


Courtesy  United  Telpherage  Company. 

Telpherage  System,  showing  Carriers  and  Hoist. 

Compressed  Air  and  Refrigeration. 


The  air-compressor  is  a  very  useful  machine  that  resembles  a 
steam-engine  in  appearance — in  fact,  usually  includes  a  steam-engine 
as  a  part  of  its  mechanism.  The  steam-engine  furnishes  the  power 
to  compress  air  in  a  cylinder  very  much  like  the  steam-cylinder, 
but  operated  on  a  reverse  principle.  At  every  stroke  a  cylinderful 
of  air  is  compressed  and  driven  out  through  a  pipe  to  a  storage 
reservoir  of  some  sort.  The  air-compressor  shown  in  the  illustra- 
tion is  of  the  direct-acting  steam  type,  and  may  be  used  among  other 
purposes  for  a  refrigerating  system.  The  working  principle  of 
many  ice-machines  is  based  on  the  creation  of  heat  during  the  com- 
pression of  the  air,  in  accordance  with  the  well-known  law  that 
pressure  creates  heat.  When  this  compressed  air  becomes  thus 
heated,  and  is  robbed  of  its  heat  either  by  a  surrounding  coil  of  pipe 
in  which  flows  cold  water  or  by  giving  it  sufficient  time  to  cool  off, 
then  the  air  may  be  again  expanded  to  produce  cold.  (See  page 
473-) 


632 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


The  expander  also  resembles  a  steam-engine,  a  common  form 
being  like  the  usual  horizontal  cut-off  engine,  into  the  cylinder  of 
which  the  air  is  admitted  during  a  portion  of  the  stroke  of  the 
piston;  the  admission  being  then  cut  off,  the  air  expands  during 
the  remainder  of  the  piston's  stroke,  until  it  fills  the  entire  cylinder. 
During  this  expansion  the  air  is  cooled  to  a  low  temperature,  and 
then  pushed  out  (by  the  return  stroke  of  the  piston)  into  pipes  that 
convey  it  to  the  refrigerating-room  or  other  place  to  be  cooled. 


Courtesy  Philadelphia  Pneumatic  Tool  Company. 

Yoke  Riveter  Making  a  Government  Buoy. 

In  the  Allen  dense-air  ice-machine  the  air  is  used  at  a  press- 
ure of  five  atmospheres,  being  circulated  and  used  over  and  over 
again.  This  is  found  to  give  very  good  results,  as  there  is  less 
moisture  to  deal  with,  always  an  annoyance  in  these  machines,  and 
the  size  of  machine  for  a  given  result  is  reduced.  Ice-machines  of 
this  type  are  frequently  employed  on  ocean  yachts  and  steamers, 
being  located  in  the  engine-room,  where  they  can  be  attended  by 
the  regular  engineers,  while  they  drive  the  cold  air  they  make  to 


MINOR   MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES  633 

the' refrigerating-room  at  some  other  point  on  the  vessel,  and  thus 
secure  for  the  voyagers  ah  the  comforts  of  fresh  provisions  that 
they  could  enjoy  on  land. 

In  ice-making  plants  in  large  cities  or  elsewhere  the  ammonia 
system  is  commonly  employed,  because  ammonia  has  a  very  con- 
venient boiling-point,  and  it  can  be  changed  from  gas  to  liquid  and 
back  again  at  small  expense.  The  ammonia  is  used  on  the  same 
principle  as  the  air — compressed,  then  cooled,  then  expanded,  and 
the  expansion  used  for  refrigerating.  In  compression  the  ammonia 
becomes  liquid,  and  under  expansion  it  is  gaseous,  which  changes 
are  of  advantage  in  the  work  to  be  performed.  The  Frick  Eclipse 
ice-making  machine  shown  on  page  335  is  a  familiar  type,  embody- 
ing a  compressor-pump  and  steam-engine,  and  in  the  larger  sizes 
has  a  height  of  eighteen  feet  and  a  capacity  of  150  tons  of  ice  in 
twenty-four  hours. 


A  Pneumatic  Hammer. 

Compressed  air  is  employed  as  a  source  of  power  in  many  tools 
and  machines,  being  supplied  much  as  is  electricity,  a  pipe  being 
substituted  for  a  wire.  The  pneumatic  hammer  illustrated  is  one 
of  many  convenient  small  tools  that  are  replacing  the  older  and 
more  familiar  forms.  The  workman  simply  holds  the  pneumatic 
hammer  up  to  its  place  and  the  compressed  air  produces  rapid  blows 
of  the  hammer,  furnishing  all  the  power,  and  thus  accomplishing 
very  much  more  work  in  a  given  time  than  a  man  could  accomplish 
with  a  hand  hammer.  Riveting  is  now  very  commonly  done  with 
pneumatic  tools,  and  the  picture  of  a  government  buoy  being  riveted 
together  by  a  portable  compressed-air  riveter  is  only  one  of  many 
that  might  be  shown  of  the  methods  now  common  in  all  large  shops 
that  manufacture  constructions  of  sheet  metal. 

Compressed  air  is  in  some  sense  a  rival  of  electricity,  having 
come  into  use  about  the  same  time,  and  providing  a  power  that  has 
much  the  same  elasticity  of  use.  It  has  hardly  been  a  success  for 
driving  street  cars,  but  it  is  useful  in  mining  and  underground 
haulage,  there  being  hundreds  of  compressed-air  mining  locomotives 
in  use.  For  rock-drilling,  for  operating  brakes  and  signals,  for 
some  sorts  of  pumping,  for  propelling  packages  through  tubes,  and 


634 


MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 


numerous  special  uses  compressed  air  has  proven  most  serviceable, 
and  holds  its  own  against  devices  operated  mechanically  or  by  elec- 
trical means, 

Wire-Making 

Wire-drawing  is  the  process  of  drawing  a  metal  rod  through 
a  series  of  holes  of  constantly  reducing  diameter,  until  the  desired 
size  and  section  are  obtained.  Down  to  three-sixteenths  inch  diam- 
eter strips  of  metal  are  termed  rods,  bars  or  the  like,  being  produced 


Wire-Drawiug  Mechanism  of  the  Morgan  Construction  Company. 

by  rolling  in  the  rolling-mill.  Wire  has  been  drawn  as  fine  as  the 
one-seven-thousandth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  this  size  being  micro- 
scopic. The  holes  through  which  the  metal  is  drawn  to  reduce  it 
are  formed  of  steel  dies  of  extreme  hardness,  or  for  great  accuracy 
and  especial  fineness  diamond  dies  may  be  used. 

The  view  in  a  wire-drawing  establishment  on  this  page  affords 
some  idea  of  the  work.  The  handling  of  wire  in  great  lengths  re- 
quires much  room  and  many  ingenious  contrivances.  The  average 
man  thinks  of  wire  as  being  round  in  cross-section,  but  it  is  made  in 


MINOR    MISCELLANEOUS    INDUSTRIES 


635 


a  great  variety  of  sections  for  special  purpose.  The  pinions  of 
watches,  for  instance,  are  cut  off  from  pinion-wire  that  is  grooved 
all  around  to  form  the  cogs  or  teeth  of  the  pinions.  Wire  for 
typewriter  bars  may  be  rectangular  or  of  other  special  form.  For 
wiring  commutators  the  wire  is  given  a  cross-section  resembling 
the  keystone  of  an  arch,  this  being  to  fit  the  curve  of  the  commutator 
to  which  it  is  to  be  applied.  Grooved  wire  is  made  for  eye-glasses, 
which,  being  bent  around,  holds  the  lens  or  glass  in  position. 


A  Wire-Nail  Machine. 


Machines  for  forming  or  cutting  wire  into  loops,  bends,  or 
special  forms,  as  for  staples,  hooks,  eyelets,  etc.,  are  termed  wire- 
forming  machines.  They  are  made  in  great  variety,  according  to 
the  work  required  of  them.  Wire-stitchers,  employing  fine  wire  for 
stitching  or  binding  pamphlets  or  periodicals  and  sometimes  cheap 
books,  have  been  used  by  bookbinders  for  many  years,  and  have  been 
one  of  the  things  tending  to  reduce  the  price  of  weekly  and  monthly 
publications. 


636  MODERN    INDUSTRIAL    PROGRESS 

Nails,  which  were  formerly  nearly  all  cut  from  thin  sheets  of 
iron  plate,  are  now  almost  wholly  made  from  wire.  A  strip  of  wire 
is  run  through  a  special  machine  and  finished  nails  are  delivered. 
The  accompanying  cut  shows  a  familiar  type  of  wire-nail  machine, 
manufactured  by  the  National  Machinery  Company.  The  wire  is 
fed  into  the  machine  from  the  coil,  and  one  complete  nail  is  headed, 
pointed,  and  cut  off  at  each  revolution  of  the  fly-wheel.  The  in- 
coming wire  passes  through  straightener  rolls  to  insure  straight 
nails,  and  the  size  of  the  head  to  be  produced  can  be  regulated,  as 
can  also  the  length  of  the  nail.  The  output  of  the  machine  is  from 
125  to  500  nails  a  minute,  depending  upon  the  size. 


INDEX 


Accidents  on  railways,  253 
Acetylene  gas,  260-264 

generators,  262,  263,  266 
Acids,  production  of,  593 
Acoustiphone,  408 
Ader,  M.  Clement,  113 
Adulteration  of  foods,  zzi 
Aeronautics,  91-117 
Aeroplanes,  94-103 
Aerostat,  Wright  brothers',  98-101 
Agricultural        Department,        United 

States,  214 
Agriculture,  208-222 
Air-compressor,  631,  632 

ships,  91-117 
Alcohol  motor,  134 

production,  543,  545 
Aluminum,  570-572 

plate-printing,  369 
Ammonia,  593 

absorption  system,  334,  335 

in  ice-making,  633 

motors,  476 
Amusement  machinery,  426-440 
Annealing  coin,  441 

furnace,  443 

lehr,  499 
Anthracite  coal,  320,  321 
Appert,  Nicholas,  326 
Architecture,  modern,  502-516 
Arc  light,  258 
Armor-plate,  190,  331 

plate-press,  86 
Armour  &  Company,  331 
Arrow,  steam-yacht,   161 
Artesian  pump,  339 
Artistic  bridges,  425,  426 
Ash-carting,  597,  598 
Asphalt  roads,  146 
Associated  Press  of  New  York,  378 
Assuit  dam,  349 
Astronomical  instruments,  400,  401 


Atlantic's  liners,  164 
Automatic  block  signals,  233 
Automatons,  426,  427 
Automobiles,  1 18-134 
Auto-mower,  221 

-truck,  133 

-van,  131 
Autoplate  machine,  380,  381 
Aviator,  Roze's,   108 
Axminster,  619 

B 

Bagdad  railway,  239 
Baking  machinery,  334 
Baldwin,  John,   583 

locomotive  works,  230 
Ballasting  a  railway,  232,  240 
Balloons,  92,  103-109 
Baltic,  169 

Bar  don  alcohol  auto,  134 
Barkometer,  531 
Barnard,  Professor,  24 
Battery,  44,  129,  609 
Battle-ship,  150-157 
Beef-packing  industry,  330-332 
Beer  manufacture,  547,  548 
Beet-sugar,  573,  576,  577,  578 
Behr  railway  system,  226 
Behring  Strait  railway,  234. 
Bell,  Professor  Graham,  103,  116 
Berliner,  E.,  113,  407 
Berlin-Zossen  experiments,  225 
Bessemer  converter,  85 
"  Best  Friend"  locomotive,  230 
Bicycle,  113 

Bigelow,  Erastus  B.,  620 
Biltmore  estate,  282 
Bituminous  coal,  320,  325 
Blast-furnaces,  ^T,  76,  ^^ 
Blasting,  294,  585,  586 
Bleaching-machine,  528 
Block  systems,  245,  251 
Blood,  uses  of,  592 

637 


638 


INDEX 


Blooming-mill,  TJ 
Blooms,  68 
Bolt-cutter,  452 

-making  machine,  451,  452 
Bookcase-machine,  370,  372 
Book-sewing  machine,  2)7'^ 
Boots  and  shoes,  534 
Bore,  Etienne,  573 
Boring-mill,  459 
Bottle-blowing,  497,  499 
Bottling  industry,  549. 
Boynton  railway,  228 
Bran-duster,  523 
Breakers,  324 
"  Break-throughs,"  325 
Breech   mechanism,    188 
Brewery  mash,  593 
Brewing  industry,  547 
Brick-conveyor,  570 

-making,  566,  568 
Bridges,  412-425 
Bridge-trusses,  412 

-towers,  417 
British  coal-mines,  321 
Broaching  slate,  583 
Brooklyn  bridge,  416,  418 

bridge  trains,  243 
Brott  railway  system,  228 
Brown  conveyor,  72 
Brussels  carpet,  620 
Building  industry,  502-516 
Buoys,  24,  632 
Bureau  of  Soils,  214 
Butter-making,  333 
By-products,  588-593 


Cableway,  201 
Calcium  carbide,  263 
Calculating  machine,  614 
Calendering  machine,  539,  540 

paper,  390,  396 
California  gold,  300,  301 
"  Camera  fiend,"  381 
Campania,   166 
Canal  lock,  173,  196,  198 
Canals,  194-200 
Canneries,  326 
Canning  statistics,  328 

-tools,  328 


Cantilever  bridges,  419 

Canton-Samshuy  Railroad,  236 

Caoutchouc,  538 

Cape  railway,  239 

Capitol  at  Washington,   504,   505,  507 

Capping  tables,  328 

Car,  convertible,  234 

Carburetter,  266 

Carnegie  steel  works,  70 

Carpet  manufacture,  618-621 

Carpets,  pile  weaving,  490,  617 

Carre  ice-machine,  334 

Carriage  building,  123 

Casing-in  machine,  2>1'2 

Casting-pit,  66 

Cathedral  glass,  500 

Cedric,  166 

Cellulose,  155 

Cement,  Portland,  508,  515,  516 

Centrifugal  machine,  576 

Cereals,  334 

Cervenka,   Emanuel,  407 

Chalk,  process  of  illustrating,  381 

Channelling  machine,  586 

Chanute,  Octave,  91 

Cheese  factory,  2,2,2, 

production,   332 
Chess-player,  automaton,  427-429 
Chicago  drainage  canal,  198,  200 

tunnel  sewer,  207 
Chlorination  process,  297,  298 
Chromos,  369 
Cigarette  business,  554 
Circle  of  death,  435 
Class  journalism,  384 
Clay  modelling,  604 

productions,  566-572 
Clothes-drying  apparatus,  622 
Clothing,  promotive,  483 
Coal-cutting  machine,  324 

-field  surveying,  325 

-gas,  264,  267. 

-jigs,  325 

-mining,  320-325 
Coaling  at  sea,  157 
Cog-railway,  245 
Coherer,  54-56 
Coke,  593 
Cold  storage,  334 

Collins's  wireless  telephone,  61,  62 
Collodion,  358 


INDEX 


639 


Color  printing,  369,  370,  379 
Combing-machine,   392 
Composing-machine,  364-369,  385 
Compound  engine,  463 
Compressed-air  locomotive,  247 

-air  motors,  473,  475 

refrigeration,  336,  631-634 
Comstock  lode,  303,  305,  306 
Concrete  building  construction,  507 
Condensed  milk,  S3^ 
Continuous-tank  furnace,  496 
Converter,  electric,  36,  273 
Conveyors,  71 
Copper  deposits,  largest,  310 

industry,  46 
Corn-cutting  machines,  328 

-silking  machines,  528 
Cotton-baling,  490,  491 

industry,  484,  485,  486,  488 

manufacturing,  483-494 

waste,  591 
Country  newspapers,  384 
Covent  Garden   Opera   House,   435 
Cracker-making,  334 
Cranes,  81,  458 
Crank-shaft,   168 
Cream  separator,  2;i3 
Creameries,  ^^:^ 
Cremation  of  garbage,  595 
Croton  dam,  344 

water  supply,  342,  344 
Crude  oil,  558,  564,  565 
Cruisers,   158 
Cultivators,  220 
Cupelling  apparatus,  445 
Curious  industries,  602-617 
Cut  glass,  500,  501 
Cutting  logs,  279 
Cyanide  process,  297 
Cylinder-presses,  361-364,  377 


Daggert,  Ezra,  326 

Daily  newspapers,  382 

Daimler,  Gottlieb,   124 

Dairy  statistics,  332 

Dams  on  the  Nile,  349,  350 

Davidson,  G.  L.  O.,  116 

De  Beer's  diamond  mine,  316-319 

"  Degras,"  591 


De  Laval,  468 

De  la  Vaux,  105 

Dellwick    and    Fleischer    process,    the, 

264 
Derricks,   steel,   556 
Deutschland,  166 
Dexter  feeding-machines,  374 
Diamond-sorter,  319 
Diamonds,  cost  of  mining,  319 

largest,  314 
Differential  reel,  523 
Dipper-dredges,  352 
Dirigible  balloons,    103 
Disappearing  gun,  185 
Distilled  liquor,  545 
Distilleries,  545 
Dobby,  490 
Dough-mixer,  334 
Drainage  canal,  601 
Drawbridges,  421 
Dredges,  350 

Dredging  for  gold,  300,  301 
Drilling-machines,  451 

oil-wells,  556-558 
Drinking-water,  538-544 
Droz,  Jacquet,  426 
Drydock,  163 
Drying  closets,  622 
Dumont,  Santos,  91,  92,   105,  106 
Dykes,  Holland,  346,  347 
Dynamos,  18,  39,  40,  43 

E 

East  Indian  railways,  39 
Eddy  kites,  94-101 
£den  Musee,  New  York,  427 
Edison  magnetic  concentrator,  74 

Thomas  A.,  406,  409,  410 
Edwards,  Colonel  William,  528 
Electric  and  steam  trains,  243 

-cab  service,  129 

cars,  230 

converter,  35 

elevated  railway,  241 

heating,  30-32 

light,  254-258 

stations,  255,  257 

locomotives,  224,  247 

motors,  44,  476,  477 

piano,  612 


640 


INDEX 


Electric  railway,  225 

runabout,  130 

signs,  28 

steel-cutting,  32 

towing  system,  37 

track-welding,  32 
Electrical  anaesthesia,  29 

machinery,   18 
Electricity  direct  from  coal,  608,  609 

for  farm  use,  21 
Electromagnet,   34 
Elevated  railways,  241 
Elevators,  626-629 

grain,  524,  525 

portable,  508 
Empire   State  Express,  228 
Engineering  enterprises,  346,  352 
Engine-room,  23 
Engines,  461-480 
Escalator,  629 
Etheric  waves,  52 
Ether-motor,  134,  135,  476 
European  newspapers,  384 
Express  trains,  233 


Factory  chimney,  Germany,  609,  610 

wastes,  588-593 
Faraday,  17 
Fare-register,  614 
Farming   implements,   219,  220 
Farnham,  E.  W.,  242 
Fatalities  on  railways,  252 
Feeding-machines,   paper,  375 
Fermented  liquors,  543 
Ferracute  manufacturing  company,  326 
Ferry-bridge,  423 
Fire-fighting  devices,  611,  612 

-hydrants,  340 
Fireproof  buildings,  507 
First  United  States  railway,  231 
Firth  of  Forth  bridge,  414 
Fish  and  oyster  industry,  327 

canning,  329,  330 

preservation,  326 
Flint-bottles,  497 
Flint,  Charles  R.,  162 
Floating  docks,  163 

lady  trick,  431,  433 
Flooring-machine,  290 


Flour-milling,  517-526 

statistics,  517,  518,  526 
Fluoroscope,  31 
Flying-machines,  93-117 

-shear,  83 
Fog-horn  plant,  2^2 

signal  apparatus,  271 
Folding-machine,  paper,  370,  371 
Foods,  326-337 
Forest  preserves,  2^"] 
Foucault's  experiment,  405,  406 
Freight-cars,  247 

elevators,  627,  628 

locomotive,  230 

traffic,  231 
Fruit  preservation,  334 
Fuel-gas   battery,   609 

system,  443 
Furnaces,  78,  79 
Furniture   trade,   579-582 


Garbage  disposition,  594,  597 

reduction  plant,  598,  599 
Gas  statistics,  267,  268,  269 

-engines,  471-473 

-holder,  266,  267 

mantle,  Welsbach,  258,  259 

-scrubber,  266,  267 

-tar,  292,  293 
Gates,  P.  W.,  450 
Gelatin  process,  356 
Generators,  electric,  19,  39 

gas,  262-266 
Ghost  trick,  430,  431 
Gigging-machine,  305,  308 
Glass,  cut,  500,  501 

-cutting,  500 

factory,  first,  496 

-making,  495-501 

statistics,  496 
Gluing-machine,  ^iTZ 
Glycerin,  592 
Gold  and  silver  money,  441 

-mining,  293-301,  315 

nugget,  largest,  293,  294 

production,  301,  445 
Goodyear,  Charles,  539 

welt-machine,  536 
Gordon,  George  P.,  364 


INDEX 


641 


Grading-machine,  352 

Grain  consumption,   545 
conveyors,  525 
elevators,  524,  525 
storage,  523,  524,  525 

Gramophone,  407 

Grand  Central  R.  R.  yard,  252 

Granite  business,  583 

Graphophone,  407 

Great  Eastern,  164 

Greth,  Dr.  August,   107 

Gunboat  Vermont,  189 

Guns,  182-186 

Gutenberg  press,  354 


H 

Half-tone  engravings,  382 

process,  357,  360-362 
Hand  printing-presses,  2>71 
Hard  steel,  85 
Harveyizing,   189 
Havemeyer,  574 
Heeling-machine,  536 
Hertzian  waves,  20 
Hewitt,  P.  C.,  35,  2T2) 
Hoe   presses,    369 
Holland  submarine  boat,   172,   178, 
Hulling-machine,  328 
Hungarian  milling  method,  520 
Hurley,  R.  E.,  249 
Hydraulic  cement,  514 

dredge,  352 

elevator,  627 

shield,  204 
Hydrogen  sulphide,  564 
Hyposcope,  192,  193 


Ice-boats,  610 

factories,  337 

-machines,  334,  632,  633 

manufacturing,  2>2>1j  633 

statistics,  337 

-tanks,   336 

tra<le,  natural,  334 
Illustrations,  360-362 
Incandescent  light,  254,  257. 
Incinerators,   597 
Ingalls,  Francis,  528 


179 


Ingot  of  steel,  88 
Ingrain  carpet,  620 
Inking  devices,  362 
Institute  of  architects,  504 
Instruments  for  the  deaf,  409 

scientific,  400-411 
Iron  bridge,  first,  414 

exports,  90 

ore  of  United  States,  72 
Ironing-machine,  623 
Irrigation  canal,  195 
Italian  marble,  587 


Japanned  leather,  530 
Jetties,  Mississippi,  346 
Job  printing-presses,  364 
Jubilee  diamond,  314 

K 

Kaiser  Wilhelm  II,   166,   170 

Kearsarge,  151 

Kensett,  Thomas,  326 

Kern  River  oil-field,  565 

Keyboards,  366 

Kimberle}'  mines,  292,  316,  317,  31c 

Kinetoscope,  409 

Kites,  man-supporting,   loi 

Klondike  gold-mining,  299 

Kneading-machine,  334 

Koerting  gas-engine,  473 

Kohinoor  diamond,  314 

Kress,  W.,  114 

Krupp,  Alfred,  185 


Lager  beer,  547,  548 
Lake  Baikal,  236 
ore  traffic,  71 
Landing-dog,  313 
Langley,  Professor  S.  P.,  93 
Langley's  aerodrome,  112 
Lanson's  kite,  94,  102 
Lanston  monotype,  366,  367,  368 
Lasting-machine,  535 
Launching,  new  method,  149 
Laundry  machinery,  621-623 
Leaching  ore,  306 


41 


642 


INDEX 


Lead-pencil  industry,  618,  619 
Leadville  mines,  302 
Leather  industry,  527-537 

census,  528,  529 
Letter-cancelling  machine,  612,  614 

-press  printing,  370 
Lick  telescope,  401 
Life-saving  apparatus,  606 
Lift-bridge,   Scherer,  422 
Light-House   Board,  269 

projectors,  268 
Lighthouses,  269-272 
Lightning  arrester,  48 
Lilienthal,  Dr.  O.,  94 
Lima-Indiana  oil-field,  561 
Limestone,  587 

Linotype,  364,  365,  380,  381,  385 
Linseed  oil,  623 
Liquor  manufacture,  543-549 
Lithography,  369 
Lixiviation  process,  506 
Locomobile,  28,  126 
Locomotive,  223,  225,  230,  246,  247 

construction,  247 

statistics,  246 
Locomotives,  compound,  233 
Logging-camps,  274,  276 
London  dailies,  384 
Longwall  mining,  322 
Loom,  620 
Loop-the-loop,  436 
Louisiana  sugar  industry,  573 
Lucania,  166 
Lull  Han  railway,  236 
Lumber  flume,  largest,  279 

lands,  276-278 

-mill,  283 

statistics,  274 

transportation,  275 

M 

Machine-guns,  191 

-making,  449-460 

oil  paintings,  607,  608 
Machinery  for  building,  508 

statistics,  459,  460 
Magazine  illustrations,  360 

pistol,  193 
"  Making  ready,"  364 
Malleable  iron,  87 


Malt  liquor,  545 
Manchester  canal,  197 
Maple  sugar,  576 
Marage,  Dr.  R.,  409 
Marah,  Sylvester,  245 
Marble  for  building,  506,  507 

variegated,  585 
Marconi,  17,  50-52 
Marconi's  detector,  56 
Marine  engine,  165 
Matrices,  364 
Maxim,  Hiram,  114 
Maxim's  flying  machine,  iii,  112 
McKay's  shoe  machinery,  535 
Meat  packing,  330-332 

preservation,  334 
Meigs,  Captain  J.  V.,  228 
Menai  Straits  bridge,  414 
Mercerizing,  448 
Mergenthaler,  Ottmar,  364,  369 
Middlings  purifier,  519,  520,  522 
Milling-machines,  450 

systems,  520,  521 
Mine-cage,  312 

-hoisting  machines,  310,  311 

locomotive,  299 

shafts,  292,  302 
Mining  anthracite  coal,  321 

by  explosives,  321 

locomotive,  320 

statistics,  321 
Minnesota,   American   steamship,   171, 

172 
Mint,  442-448 
Mississippi  jetties,  346 
Mitchell  farm,  209 
Modelling  machine,  604-606 
Mond  gas,  471,  472 
Money  manufacture,  441-448 
Monoline  machine,  368 
Monorail  roads,  226 
Monotype  machine,  366 
Mont  Cenis  tunnel,  202 
Mosher,  Charles  D.,  162 
Motors,  18,  68,  473-482 

electric,  476,  477 
Mount  Washington  railway,  245 
Mountain  railways,  245 
Moving  pictures,  436-440 

stairway,  629 
Myers,  Carl  E.,  91 


I 


INDEX 


643 


N 

Nails,  wire,  636 

Natural  gas,  80 

Navies,  150 

Nernst  electric  lamp,  259,  260 

Newbold,  Charles,  219 

News  agencies,  378 

gathering,  378 
Newspaper  advertising,  382 

circulations,  382 

history,  376-387, 

illustrations,  381 

pictures,  360 

statistics,  376,  379 

telegraph  service,  382 
Newspapers,  376-384 
New  York  subway,  240 
Nile  dams,  349,  350 
Nitro-cellulose,  189 
Nome  gold  output,  299 
Norman,  Henry,   118 
Northrop  loom,  488,  489 

O 

Oil  certificates,  563 

-engines,  475,  476 

industry,  556-565 

painting,  mechanical,  607,  608 

-wells,  556-558,  565 
Oiled  roads,  135-146 
Oldsmobile,  127 
Oleomargarine,  331,  592 
Open-hearth  furnaces,  78,  79 
Ordnance  statistics,  182,  183 
Ore  classifiers,  308 

-finding,  25 

freightage,  71,  231 
Orling's  wireless  apparatus,  59 
Oscillator,  54 
Overhead  bridges,  233 
Oyster  preservations,  326 


Paints  and  varnishes,  623-625 
Panama  Canal,  198 

dredging,  346 
Pape,  H.  G.,  408 
Paper-feeding  machines,  374,  375 

-folding  machines,  370,  371,  374 


Paper,  Japanese,  396,  397 

-making,  390,  396 

-money  manufacture,  446-448 

-testing,  397-399 
Papier-mache,  380 
Paris  dailies,  384 

Parsons  steam-turbine,  160,  468,  469 
Pea-blanchers,  328 

-sieves,  328 
Pennsylvania  tunnel,  241 
Petroleum,  556,  565 
Phenakistoscope,  406 
Phonautograph,  406 
Phonograph,  383,  406-408 
Photo-engraving,  355-360 
Photograph,   X-ray,  410,  411 
Photography  for  printing,  359 
Photophone,  22 
Pictorial  printing,  354-362 
Pig  iron,  74 

Pike's  Peak  railway,  245 
Pilatus  railway,  246 
Pilcher,  Percy  S.,  95 
Pintsch  gas-lights,  271 
Pistol,  magazine,  173 
Placer  mining,  298 
Planing-machines,  451 
Plaster  of  Paris,  607 
Plate-glass,  496,  499,  500,  501 

-matter,  382 
Pneumatic  tools,  456,  457 
Polariscope,  574 
Pontoon  bridges,  424 
Pork  exports,  23^ 

-packing  industry,  331 
Port  Arthur  railway,  236 
Portland  cement,  508,  515,  516 
Potato-planter,  220 
Power  producers,  461-482 
Pressed-steel  cars,  247,  248 
Presses,  cylinders,  362,  ^77,  379,  3S0 
Pressing-macliines,  457 
Printing,  354-375 

-presses,  360,  362,  364-368 

telegraph,  26-28 
Prismatic  reflector,  357 
Process-kettle  for  preserving,  326 
Projector,  261,  268 
Prospecting  drill,  298 

shaft,  302 
Pug-mill,  567 


644 


INDEX 


Pull-boats,  281 

Pulp-grinder,  392,  394 

Pumping-engines,  342 
stations,  340 
water,  340-342 

Puppet  theatre,  429,  430 


Quarry  industry,  583-587 


R 


Rags,  590 

Railway  capitalization,  231 

electric,  225 

employees,  232 

fatalities,  231,  252 

mileage,  231 

signals,  251 

speed  tests,  228,  229 

steel,  226,  232 

steepest  in  world,  246 

switches,  252 
Railways,  223-253 
Rapid-fire  gun,  158,  183 
Ready-mixed  paints,  624 
Reaping  wheat,  209 
Reflector,  Crossley,  402,  403 
Refrigeration,  336,  631,  634 
Refuse,  disposal  of,  596 
Register  of  fares,  614 
Reichel,  Herr  Walter,  225 
Reid,  James,  609 

Resawing  machines,  286,  287,  290 
Reservoir  system,  342 
Rhodes,  Cecil,  237 
Rice-growing,  210 
Richet,  M.,  114 
Rifles,  191,  192 
Riveting-machine,  632 
Road-making,  139-146 

-roller,  139 
Roasting  furnace,  306 
Rochester  flour-mills,  517 
Rock-drills,  201 
Roentgen,  410 
Roller  flour-mill,  519 
Rolling  lift-bridge,  421 

-mills,  82 
Romanesque  furniture,  581 


Rotary  engines,  463-465 

presses,  362,  ziT,  379,  380 
Rubber  manufacture,  538-542 


"  Saddleback"  railway,  228 
Salmon  canning,  329 

fishing,  329 
Sand-pump,  296,  297,  308 
Sanding-machine,  289 
Sandy  Hook  gun,  184 
Santos  Dumon  No.  6,  105 
Santos  Dumont  No.  10,  92 
Sardine  canning,  329 
Satin  weave,  490 
Sault  Ste.  Marie  Canal,  196 
Saw-bench,  288,  291 
Sawdust,  588,  589 
Sawing-machines,  284-288 
Saw-mills,  283 
Scalding  kettles,  328 
Scalper,  521 
Scherer,  William,  421 
Scientific  instruments,  400-411 
Scott,  Leon,  406 
Scrap  iron  and  steel,  590 
Screens  for  sizing  ore,  307,  308 
Screw-threads,  450 
Scrubbing-machine,  530 
Sculpturing,  mechanical,  602-607 
Scutching-machines,  488 
Searchlights,  259,  261 
Selective  converter,   35,   273 
Selenium,  21,  22,  24 
Semaphores,  251 
Serpollet  steam  motor,  136 
Service-pipes,  341,  342 
Shamrock  III,  148 
Shaw,  A.  J.,  458,  615 
Shearing-machine,  457 
Shipbuilding  statistics,   148 
Shoe  census,  1900,  536 

industry,  533 

machinery,  530,  534,  535 
Shoemaking,  532-534 
Shoe-pegs,  534 
Siberian  railway,  234 
Siemens-Halske  motors,  226 
Silk  industry,  483,  484,  485,  493,  494 

-mills,  485,  486 


INDEX 


645 


Silk  statistics,  493 

taffetas,  493 
Silver  money,  301-306 

production,  444,  445 
Simplon  tunnel,  202 
Skidding  lumber,  280 
Sky-scraper,  516 
Slag  cement,  509,  514,  515 
Slate-picking,  325 

quarrying,  583,  584 

separators,  325 
Slaughter-house  waste,  392 
Slaughter-houses,  330 
Slime-table,  304,  308 
Slushing  process,  323 
Smith,  Alexander,  620 
Smokeless  powder,  188 
Smoke-stacks,  610 
Smyrna  rugs,  620 
Smyth  book-making  machines,  371 
Snuff  trade,  554 
Soaking  pits,  80 
Soaring  machines,  94-96 
Soft  steel,  85 
Soldering  cans,  328 
Sorghum  syrup,  577 
South  African  railways,  237,  238 
South  American  railways,  234 
Speaking  arc,  22 
Spectroscope,  wonders  of,  404 
Spectroscopy,  403,  404 
Spindle,  488 

Spindle-top  Oil  Pool,  563 
Spinning-mule,  488 
Sprague  carpet  factory,  619 
Spreckels,  Claus,  574 
Springfield  rifle,  igi 
Spring  mattress,  579 
St.  Gothard  tunnel,  202 
Stage  tricks,  432-434 
Stamping-press,   442 
Stand-pipe,  341 
Starching-machine,  622 
State  roads,  45 
Steam,  461,  462 

-boilers,  257 

-cooking,  328 

-engines,   165,  461-480,  561 

engineering,  466-471 

-plow,  213 

-pump,  336,  343 


Steam  railways,  223 

-shovels,  352,  525 

-turbine,  160,  470 

-yachts,  162 
Steamships,  steel,  148 
Steel  and  iron,  67 

buildings,  248,  509,  514 

freight  cars,  247 

-making,  65-87 

rails,  226,  232 

tempering,  81 
Stereotyping,  379,  382 
Stevenson,  230 
Stewart,  A.,  574 

Stock  Exchange,  New  York,  505 
Stone's  wireless  system,  60 
Stoping  in  South  Africa,  316 
Storage  battery,  45 

tanks,  515 
Stringfellow,  no 
Structural   steel,  82 
Submarine  mine,   175,  176 

torpedo-boat,    172-178 
Subsurface  torpedo-boat,  179 
Subway,  New  York,  206 
Suez  Canal,  195 
Sugar  manufacture,  573-578 

-refining,  574-576 
Sunday  newspapers,  379,  382 
Sun-motors,'  481,  482 
Superheaters,  257 
Surfacing  machine,  289 
Surveying  coal  lands,  325 
Suspended  railways,  244 
Swing-saw,  286,  291 
Switchboard,  electric,  255,  256 


Talking  casts,  409 
Tannage,  531 

Tanning      industry,      527,      528,      531, 
532 

machinery,  530-532 
Taylor,  Allen,  326 
Telegraphone,  2)7 
Telegraphy,  25 

wireless,  50-61 
Telephone  for  farms,  221,  222 
Telescope,  401-403 
Telpherage,  630 


646 


INDEX 


Tenoning-machine,  579 
Terminal  stations,  241 
Terra-cotta,  506 
Tesla,  Nikola,  2'/2, 
Tetrahedral  kite,  103 
Theatre  mechanisms,  429,  434 
Thermo-electric  couple,  609 
Third-rail  system,  243 
Thompson,  Professor  E.,  58 
Three-color  printing,  370 
Throwing  railway  track,  250 
Tiemann,  Anthony,  624 
Tobacco  industry,  S50-555 

trust,  553 
Tools,  449-454 
Torpedo,  564 

-boat  destroyers,  160 

-boats,  172-179 
Tower-bridge,  414 
Towing  system,  electric,  'i'j 
Track-laying,  232 

machine,  249 

-throwing,  250 

-welding,  32 
Trade  papers,  384 
Train  signals,  251 
Trains  de  luxe,  236 

long-distance,  233 
Transformer,  43 
Trans-Siberian  railway,  234 
Trestle-bridge,  423 
Tricking  business,  216 
Trolley  roads,  223 
Tubular  bridge,  421 
Tuning,  55 
Tunnels,  202-206 
Turbines,  160,  466-470 
Turbinia,  160 
Turret-lathe,  455 
Turrets,  battle-ship,  151 
Twill  fabrics,  490 
Type-casting  machine,  367,  368,  369 

-setting  machine,  365-369 
Typograph  machine,  368 

U 

Umbrella  boat,  174 
Underground  railways,  242 

wires,  47 
United  States  coin,  441 


Unloading  machines,  240,  351 

Upholstering-machine,  582 


Vanning  machine,  309,  310 
Van  Syckle,  Samuel,  559 
Varnish  manufacture,  624 
Vermont  stone,  585 

W 

Wall-paper,  625,  626 
"  Want"  advertisements,  382 
Wardwell,  George  J.,  587 
Warren,  E.  C,  464 
Washburn  mills,  525 
Washing-machines,  621,  622 

plant,  318 
Washington  hand-press,  362 

Monument,  609 
Waste  material,  594-601 
Wastes,  utilization  of,  588,  593 
Water,  drinking,  338-344 

-gas,  264,  265 

-mains,  340-342 

-storage  system,  340 

-testing,  338 

-wheels,  477-480 

-works,  340-350 
Weather  bureau,  94 
Web-press,  zil,  379,  380 
Weekly  newspapers,  382,  383 
Welland  Canal,  197 
Welsbach  gas-mantle,  258 
Welt-machine,  536 
Westinghouse,  468,  472 
Wetherill,  Samuel,  624 
Wet  machine,  395,  396 
Whaleback,  173 
Wheat  farms,  209,  210,  211 
Wheel-pit,  42 
Whiskey,  543 
White  lead,  624,  625 

touring  car,  127 
Whitehead's  aeroplane,  97 
Whitening  machine,  533 
Williamsburg  bridge,  416,  418 
Wilton  carpet,  620 
Windmill,  481 
Window-glass,  496 
Wine-making,  548 


INDEX 


647 


Winton  car,  128' 
Wire  cables,  412 

-cloth,  506 

-drawing,  634,  635 

-nails,  636 

ropeway,  630 

springs,  579 
Wireless  telegraphy,  50-61 

telephone,  62 
Wireway,  630 
Wood-mortising  machine,  290 

-moulding  machine,  288 

-surfacing  machine,  289 
Wool,  483-494 

-carding,  484 

-grease,  550,  551 
Woollen  industry,  484-494 


Woollen  statistics,  492,  493 
World's  supply  of  money,  446 
Wright  brothers,  94 


X 


X-rays,  410 


Yerkes  telescope,  401 


Zeidler's  electric  lamp,  258 
Zeppelin,  Count  Von,  109,  no 
Zinc  etchings,  382 

white,  624 
Zuyder  Zee,  346 


THE     END 


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U  H  o 


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BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031  01743477  0 


DATE  DUE 

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